Between Shadows
by WriteToEscapeReality1309
Summary: Elena's world only turned darker after her brother's death. Now shouldering the weight of a great responsibility kept in the shadows from all who trust her, she must help Clark Kent keep the town of Smallville safe from its super-powered citizens. Soon she'll discover her true purpose in Clark's life, making sure her own destiny doesn't define who she'll become.(Slowburn Clark/OC)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything, except my OC, Magdalena "Elena" Castro, as well as the Castro Family, and any further characters I make up along the way. I do not claim anything else besides the small tweaks and changes I'll make to the story/dialogue. This is purely meant to entertain and no profit is made out of it.

* * *

 _"Pilot"  
Part One **  
**_

After two minutes of looking for the pair of sneakers that hid her throwing knives so well between their midsoles and putting them on, Elena finally ran down the stairs to the kitchen. On her way there, she made sure to pick up the house keys from the dinner table, quickly grabbing the last apple from the fruit bowl and snatching a water bottle from the fridge before going out the kitchen's back door and locking it.

As she ran to the bus stop, she felt the weight of the slender knives in her shoes every time they stepped further down the gravel road. After the meteor shower that hit Smallville twelve years ago, there had been some weird, unexplained cases going around, but nothing too bad that required a teenage girl carrying knives in her shoes at all times. Still, although Elena never used them, keeping her parents' gift close to her made her feel safe.

Thankfully she reached the bus on time, also safe from being late to school again as she stepped inside it and sat behind her friends.

"Hey!" Elena saw Pete hand over a five to Chloe, who took it and only smiled smugly in return. "What's going on?" Curious, she leaned forward to rest her chin on the back of her best friends' bus seat. "Have you two finally taken up the drug-smuggling life, now?" she whispered jokingly and Pete and Chloe turned their heads.

"Four more seconds, Elena." Pete held up four of his fingers at her face, shaking his head in defeat. "Couldn't you have waited four more seconds?!"

Her face shared Chloe's broad smile before she reached out and slapped him on the back of his head, scolding, "That's what you get for betting against me, Military! Now you're five dollars poorer."

Pete rubbed the back of his head where her hand left a tingling sensation behind, but Elena calling him her special nickname told Pete she wasn't really that mad about the bet.

When the school bus made another stop in front of the Kent Farm, he turned to Elena again to see her biting a green apple and he couldn't help but smirk. "Ready to eat your words, too?"

She raised a confused eyebrow in response, glancing at Chloe as the blonde looked through the window searching for a certain tall, dark-haired, and blue-eyed boy to get on the bus.

But after three minutes the bus driver closed the bus doors and Pete's grin grew brighter. Chloe turned away from the window and sighed as she slumped down on her seat. Clark Kent was late.

"I can't believe you bet against your best friend!" Though she had lost the bet, Chloe finally smiled at the dark-skinned boy and gave him his five dollars back.

Pete chuckled and looked between Chloe and Elena while he tucked the dollar bill in his jacket, "Statistical fact: if Clark moved any slower he'd be extinct."

Elena stopped herself from biting her apple and smirked at Pete. "Alright, I bet those five bucks he gets to school at the same time as us."

"Are you serious?" Both her friends looked at her like she was crazy, but Elena didn't back down and simply nodded. Pete thought about it for a second and then extended his hand out to the brunette to solidify the bet.

Just as Elena gave her friend's hand a firm shake there was a brief pounding on top of them.

Chloe grabbed onto Pete's arm, sounding alarmed, "Did you hear that?"

The boy simply shrugged and looked up at the bus' roof, Elena holding a knowing smile to herself as she said, "Maybe it was a bird or something."

Elena continued to finish her breakfast on the ride to school with the knowledge that she'd have enough money to buy lunch today.

* * *

Pete and Chloe walked up the stairs outside of Smallville High School, chatting animatedly about the high school dance coming up. Elena stayed a few steps behind and instead watched the kids in charge of the Homecoming Dance preparations rush pass with red and yellow poster flyers rolled up under their arms and hands.

A cheerleader carrying around a heavy box of props in front of her face, as she tried to not let go of the pompoms dangling from her hands, almost caught her foot on one of the steps. Fortunately, Elena held on to the giant cardboard box with one hand while she wrapped her other one safely around the peppy girl's small waist, just in time before she could fall face-first on the concrete. The cheerleader thanked Elena with grateful smile and gathered her things properly this time to catch up to her friends.

"Nice save." Clark stood behind Elena with a stack of books in his hands, smiling as she frowned down at the glitter stuck to her clothes and tried shaking it off.

"Yeah, I'm a real hero." She deadpanned, but Clark only laughed and pointed out that she was a "heroine," rather. "Same thing," Elena turned to face him with a shrug and took three of his books to carry. Looking back down at her glittery black shirt as they walked up to Chloe and Pete, she added to herself, "I'm still covered in fairy vomit either way."

"Hi, guys," Clark said as they stopped right behind the pair of teenagers.

Chloe whirled around to face Clark with the same confused expression as Pete. But unlike her best friend who was able to shrug off his surprise after a second, Chloe was at loss of words. "Uh, didn't you just...? Weren't you-?"

"I took a shortcut."

"Through what? A black hole?!"

"Clark," Pete pulled him by the shoulders and they continued to walk.

Elena had to suppress her laughter at the sight of Pete reaching his hands up at Clark as he kept talking; the kid had always been so damn tall. "You'll have to excuse our intrepid reporter. Seems as though her weirdar is on DEFCON 5. She thought something was attacking the bus!"

"Okay," Chloe ran to stand in front of them with Elena following at her side, "just because everyone else chooses to ignore the strange things that happen in this leafy little hamlet doesn't mean that they don't happen."

"Now, you know we'd love to join you and Scooby inside the Mystery Machine for another zany adventure," smiling excitedly, Pete took out a piece of white paper from his jacket's inside pocket and patted Clark on the back, "but we got to hand in these permission slips before homeroom."

Elena glanced at Clark worryingly. She knew how his parents felt about football, or Clark trying out for any sport in general, and she also knew why. It wasn't that Clark wasn't good at sports. Truth be told, he was _too_ good. Having practically grown up together Elena couldn't help but find out about Clark's super abilities at an early age, and she worried with his parents that he might get too caught up in the game to control them.

Knowing this, Clark shared a look with Elena before shaking his head at Pete. "Actually, Pete, I'm having second thoughts. I don't think signing up for the team is such a great idea."

His friend stopped walking for a second to look at him incredulously, "Clark, listen, this is the only way..."

"Wait, wait, wait." Behind, Chloe tried not to laugh as she walked up to them. "You two are trying out for the _football team_? What is this, some sort of teen suicide pact?"

Pete wrapped his arm from behind her blonde head to silence her giggles, pulling her aside with a harsh whisper, "We're trying to avoid being this year's scarecrow."

"What are you talking about?" Chloe looked between Clark and Pete, raising her voice once she realized she'd been whispering, too, "And why are we whispering?!"

Pete drew in a breath, looking away and back at Chloe clearly irritated as he explained, "It's a Homecoming tradition. Every year before the big game, the football players select a freshman, take him off to Reilly Field, strip him down to his boxers and then paint a _S_ on his chest."

"And then string him up like a scarecrow," Clark finished.

"Jeez, that sounds like years of therapy waiting to happen."

Chloe's disgusted face reminded Elena of how different she reacted to first hearing about the tradition than her friend. In seventh grade, she'd been completely unfazed when she heard a group of eighth grade boys talking about it during lunch. God knew her parents had done worse things than string a 95% naked teenager up on a pole. And although they never spoke about it when Elena was around, that didn't meant she couldn't hear their late night conversations as she hid behind the stairs in the shadows.

"Why do you think we're trying out for the team? Figure they'd avoid choosing one of their own," Pete's words snapped Elena out of her thoughts.

"And talking about avoiding things...," she shifted all of Clark's books to her left arm and held out her right hand to Pete. "Where is that Lincoln you owe me?"

He sighed and pulled out the money from his red jacket. While Elena took her promised money, Pete cocked his head towards Clark, who was too busy making googly eyes at Lana Lang ahead, and the boy waved another five dollars at Elena, "You in?"

"I'll see you guys in class," Clark walked away from his group of friends and made his way to the pretty brunette talking to the cheerleader Elena had saved from an embarrassing fall moments ago.

"Bye." Chloe was the only one to tell him anything as he left, Pete and Elena starting their bets already.

"Give him ten seconds." Pete placed his bet and gave Chloe his dollar bill for her to hold.

"Five." Elena handed Chloe her five bucks, confident.

The three of them watched Clark with smiles, the blonde beginning to count, "1. 2. 3. 4. 5-."

Chloe, Elena, and Pete grimaced when the six-foot-something guy fell face-first on the floor in front of his crush. But then Elena remembered winning, and a smug smile spread across her lips while Pete continued to stare at Clark with an unbelievable expression on his features.

Chloe laughed as she gave Elena the money and looked at Pete, "Statistical fact: Clark Kent can't get within five feet of Lana Lang without turning into a total freak show."

Elena stared back at Clark, her smile fading when Lana's boyfriend came into view shooting a nasty look at him. "Uh, I think I better go. See you later?"

She looked back at Chloe and Pete who nodded and waved goodbye at her, Elena already running to her best friend's rescue.

"Dude are you feeling alright?" Lana's star quarterback boyfriend, Whitney Fordman, asked without looking all that concerned for how Clark leaned low against the fence and looked down at the ground. "You look like you're about to hurl."

"I'm fine," Elena heard him say, although he looked anything but when she got a better look at him.

Either way, Whitney seemed not to care as he smiled at Lana and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before they turned to leave. Elena rolled her eyes and looked back down at Clark. He was starting to gather his books from the ground and made an attempt to get up only to sit back down against the railing, his face a sickly shade of green.

Elena's concern grew as she moved closer to Clark. For as long as she'd known him, the boy never got sick. Hell, he could easily bench press the school bus if he wanted to. So how come being around Lana Lang was such a hard thing for him?, she wondered.

"You forgot one, Clark." Whitney stopped to pick up a book with a smirk and tossed it at him. But Elena, who was having none of the jock's shit, swiftly reached out and caught the book mid-air. Lana looked at her impressed, though her boyfriend looked peeved as he said, "Nice catch."

"I've been told." The short-haired brunette gave him a tight smile and turned her back to them, helping Clark get up as she handed him the rest of his books before going to class.

* * *

So, even if she hadn't been late, Elena got after-school detention for saying some _very_ explicit words to her classmate. But in her defense, Lillian Rogers had those words coming when she blatantly threatened for Elena to "back off my boyfriend, bitch."

Obviously, she deserved more than a few nasty words thrown her way but Elena was not one to start a fight because of a rumor. A stupid one at that.

Walking beside the stretch of empty road, she scoffed at the idea, _Me, going after Sean Kelvin? He's not even close to being my type... Kinda hot for a brain-dead jock, though.  
_

Looking down at her nifty little SpongeBob Squarepants wristwatch, she stopped to look up at the evening sky and let out an irritated groan.

 _Why can't_ I _have super speed like Clark?!_ She narrowed her eyes at whatever god was up there accusingly, but she knew it was just her hungry stomach talking.

As much as she liked Clark, having his powers was something she didn't want. _Ever_. Powers like that came with a lot of shit Elena didn't want to deal with, and she'd seen first-hand how scary and difficult life was with them.

Sometimes she wondered how Clark even managed to wake up every morning with a weight like that on his shoulders. She could barely keep her own secrets from breaking her apart every night she went to sleep.

But to appease her growling stomach she needed to get home soon, walking a little faster as a red truck drove up the bridge. She saw it carried a load of steel wire coils on its flatbed, the worn-out and dirty yellow harness securing them in place becoming loose enough for one bundle of coil to slip out onto the road.

The truck's driver kept going unaware of the danger he'd just let fall. Elena peeled her eyes away from the coil and stared ahead at the tall man's figure that began to look more and more like Clark the closer her hurried feet got to him. While the red truck drove down the bridge and out of sight, Clark continued to stand against the bridge's railing, pensively looking down at the water.

She shifted her eyes back to the big piece of wire in the middle of the road with the intention of getting it out of the way, but a car was already speeding down the bridge like nobody's business. There was no way in hell she was going to get that thing off the road in time.

"Shit," she breathed out, her brisk walk turning into a run when she realized the Porsche was not going to stop. "Clark! Clark!"

Her shouts and the screeching of tires against asphalt turned Clark around, wide-eyed as the blue-gray car skid towards him uncontrollably.

When the Porsche's driver crashed into the side of the bridge, taking Clark with him as his body flew off into the water fifty feet below, Elena felt a scream in her throat build up. But all she could do was let her mouth hang open in horror as she stood a couple feet away from the broken railing, all sound caught in her throat.

It took her no more than a few seconds to recover from the shock, her rapid heart beating loudly against her chest and ears as she ran to the side of the bridge and stopped right on the edge of the railing's huge gap. There was movement in the water but the car was more than half-way sunk by now and there was no sight of Clark, much less the driver.

Elena gripped the metal railing next to her tightly, her feet more than ready to jump as her worried thoughts blurred any trace of sense in her. She didn't care how super-humanly strong or fast Clark Kent was, nobody survived being crashed into and thrown off a bridge like that. Though she _really_ hoped she was wrong.

With her backpack and jacket off on the ground, she gave it no second thought as she dove head-first approximately fifty feet in the air to go after her best friend.

No matter how much she prepared for the impact it still came hard and, for a moment, the cold, sharp pain of landing in the water consumed her body to the point she could not move. But Elena didn't let her pain stand in the way of getting to Clark, as she resurfaced and gasped up at the sky for air. Going back under, she swam with opened eyes down to the sinking vehicle, searching frantically for Clark.

The relief of seeing him well and alive, swimming towards the unconscious man inside the car, got rid of that god-awful clenching feeling in her heart and she couldn't help but give him an underwater hug when she reached him.

Clark pulled away after a second, pointing down at the Porsche and Elena nodded understandingly before swimming further down. She reached the car first, always the faster swimmer, and tapped on the car's roof for Clark to pull off as there was no other way of getting the man out. She watched him put his hand inside a hole in the broken front glass and grabbed onto the roof before effortlessly bending it back. With just enough space open for Elena to swim inside, she unbuckled the man from his seat and pulled him out.

Between the two of them they carried him up to the surface, where Clark laid him down on the ground by the river. She put two fingers to the side of his neck and checked for a pulse. When she didn't find one, Elena glanced up at Clark's worried face as he looked at the dead man, and she pressed her lips to the young man's mouth starting CPR.

Finally, he coughed out all the water from his lungs as she turned him on his side. Clark immediately let out a breath of relief but, after taking his attention away from the bald man on the ground, he eventually noticed the trail of blood running down the smiling brunette's arm and his expression turned back to his worried state.

But before Clark got the chance to speak, the driver opened his eyes and looked up at him. "I could have sworn I hit you."

Elena froze at his words, her relieved smile now replaced with a flicker of panic in her eyes, and Clark tore his eyes away from her wounded arm with dawning realization.

"If you did, I'd be- I'd be dead." Shaken, he met Elena's eyes again and she stared back, the same thought crossing her mind: _He survived a fifty-feet crash and fall unharmed._

* * *

The Porsche's reckless driver turned out to be none other than Lex Luthor, son of Lionel Luthor the founding billionaire of LuthorCorp.

Elena didn't know much about the Luthors, the little few facts she did know coming from a seventh-grade, three-page research paper she never bothered to finish. And of course, there were the things Jonathan Kent angrily sputtered about Lionel Luthor and his family. Things she would rather not repeat. Especially now that Clark and her had saved Lex's life, and he paid for the medical assistance needed to stitch up her cut arm when the EMS arrived.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Clark asked her for the third time.

A piece of the Porsche's broken glass had grazed her when she pulled Lex out, cutting the upper part of her left arm.

"It's just a small cut. I'm fine, Clark," she smiled, wrapping the red blanket one of the paramedics handed her tighter around her wet shirt. "Though I'm the one who should really be asking you."

"I know," he sighed and sat down on the ground beside her, also pulling on his red blanket as they both looked at the bridge's mangled railing and Lex's wrecked Porsche being pulled out of the water.

"Clark!" Jonathan came running down the dirt slope to the riverbank, placing a hand on Clark's face while trying to catch his breath. "Son, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Clark nodded and smiled.

His dad sighed and turned to Elena but before he could worry about her next, she held up her right hand, "Same here."

With a nod, Jonathan looked back to his son and demanded to the closest State Trooper, "Who's the maniac that was driving that truck?"

"That would be me," he turned to face the bald young man, "Lex Luthor."

It was impossible to miss the look of extreme displeasure on Mr. Kent's face when Lex offered his hand. Elena tried not to wince when Jonathan blatantly ignored his handshake and returned his attention to Clark.

"I'm Jonathan Kent." He took off his jacket and put it around Clark. "This is my son."

Disregarding Mr. Kent's harsh tone, Lex looked down at Clark and Elena, "Thanks for saving my life."

"I'm sure you would have done the same thing." Clark didn't look too happy with him, either, but at least he managed to sound sincere as he stood up to leave.

Jonathan held out his hand for Elena to take and she thanked him as she stood up, following Clark to their truck.

"You have quite an extraordinary boy there, Mr. Kent," Lex stopped the man. "If there is any way I can repay you,-"

"Drive slower," Jonathan gave him a serious look to go with his cutting tone before continuing to walk away.

* * *

Mr. Kent dropped Elena off first in front of her house. After thanking him and saying goodbye to Clark, she held on to her backpack's strap on her shoulder and walked up the steps to the dimly lit front porch.

The truck's engine roared behind her, turning around one last time to see the red vehicle making its way down the road before it disappeared. Staring back down at the "Welcome" mat under her feet, Elena leaned forward to press her forehead against the wooden door and let out a tired breath as she closed her eyes. She rested there for a second, before standing straight again with eyes back open and pulled out her house keys from her jacket's pocket, the movement making her stitched-up arm sting a bit but it was nothing she couldn't handle.

She ignored the pain and pushed open the door after unlocking it, expecting the small piece of black yarn that they always put on the top edge of the door to come flying down on her hand. But the string was already on the ground, the throwing knives in her shoes becoming instantly heavier as her brown eyes scanned every corner inside the dark house.

Her body tensed at the overwhelming silence she was met with and the blood in her veins pumped faster as she quickly reached down to her shoe for a throwing knife, taking her first steps inside the house cautiously.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the shadow move faster than she could blink, and it charged at her with brute force.

 _A woman,_ Elena noted as the intruder's small but hard fist made contact with the left side of her face. She stumbled back a step, but she readied herself for the unknown woman's second hit, grabbing the intruder's leg when it flew up to her stomach. Twisting it around, the woman clad in black clothing fell down face-first on the hardwood floor just to roll over and stand up again without hesitation.

 _Experienced, too._

The technique was enough revelation for Elena to figure out who her attacker was as she tightened the grip of her knife and threw it at the woman's head. With a roll of her eyes, she watched her avoid the weapon, as she knew she would, and prepared herself for another blow when the woman spun in mid-air and stretched out her long leg in a kick to hit Elena's head.

The brunette easily deflected the attack by bending her waist straight back (thanks to her many years of ballet) and let the woman's foot pass freely, inches above her face. She stood straight again, right arm up to block the fist coming at her as she kneed the woman in the stomach, got a hold of her shoulders, and kneed her a second time.

But instead of doubling over, the blonde grabbed her by the nape of her neck and pulled Elena down to the ground with her, getting on top of her and pressing the throwing knife to Elena's neck as they both breathed in and out heavily.

"Didn't think I'd catch that knife, did you?" The older woman withdrew the knife from Elena's throat when the young girl looked at it in surprise. She finally stood up, victoriously twirling the knife around her fingers. "Always expect the worst out of your enemy, Magdalena; I taught you that. Never underestimate your opponent _._ "

Wincing, Elena put a hand over her bandaged arm and stood up on her own, ignoring the outstretched hand of her mother. "School was great, Mom, thanks for asking," she replied with heavy sarcasm while going over to turn on the lights in the living room.

The teenager turned around to see her mother staring at her with a stern look, catching sight of her wound. "What happened to you?"

 _As if you actually cared_ , it took everything in her to keep from rolling her eyes again as she shook her head. She had felt her stitches open during the fight, felt the small trail of blood going down her arm under her jacket. Knowing that she'd have to stitch the cut close again on her own and that it was going to leave a nasty scar afterwards, Elena shot her mother an angry look as she lied, "It's nothing. I'm going up to my room now; I have some homework I need to finish."

Magdalena simply nodded and handed Elena back the throwing knife, watching her daughter go up the stairs without another word. Feeling the pain of Elena's hits in her stomach, she smiled if not a bit proud at how good the girl fought back.

She'd admit that her methods were extreme, but it was the only way Magdalena knew how to protect Elena. It was the way her _mamá_ had raised her, and how her mother's mother had raised Elena's grandmother before. And no matter how much Elena hated Magdalena for it, she could not fight against her destiny. Magdalena certainly tried to and although she had succeeded, she paid a high price for it. A price she promised her daughter would never have to pay.

Whether Elena wanted to acknowledge it or not, the girl was cursed; born to spill blood. And Magdalena was going to make sure her daughter would be prepared to do so when the time came.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello! I hope you enjoyed the start of my first Smallville fanfic ever! I always get super nervous when crossing over to another fandom and writing an OC-centric fic, but I am extremely happy for finally having the guts to post the first chapter to "Between Shadows"!**

 **Magdalena (a.k.a. Elena) Castro has got to be my favorite OC I have ever created, and I'm so hyped to be sharing her story! I have big things planned for her, and I am determined to write her story (all 10 seasons worth of it omg- pray for me please lol)!**

 **I hope you all find this fic as enjoyable, too, and reviews are always an effective way of getting me to update faster! So, please, I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and any constructive criticism on this chapter! Oh, and also, Elena(my oc) is portrayed by the younger Jessica Alba for those of you who were wondering!**

 **Thank you for reading, I wish you lovelies a good day/night! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

_"Pilot"_  
 _Part Two_

To no surprise, Magdalena was gone before Elena woke up the next morning.

The only thing that confirmed she'd in fact been here last night was a note she left under the fruit bowl saying that Dad had called in the middle of the night.

He was going to stay in Metropolis for another couple of days.

Elena tried not to be too disappointed about the news, but she was looking forward to seeing her dad this afternoon and couldn't help but be slightly bothered by it throughout the whole day at school.

While her mother and her were distant and detached, Elena's relationship with her dad was the complete opposite. He'd always been there when Elena needed him the most. Like a normal parent, that much rather hold her tight in his arms and comfort her than train her to be a killer.

"Hey, are you okay?" Clark asked her. She'd been pretty quiet the whole way to his house and on the bus, too. Normally, she loved to tease him and joke about his "unrequited love" for Lana Lang, or talk about her next issue for The Torch, but she seemed to be off in another universe this entire day. It didn't help that she'd shown up at school with a forming purple bruise on the side of her jaw, either. Maybe that's why she wasn't talking so much.

"Clark, if you ask me that one more time..." She breathed out, border-line annoyed, and rolled her eyes as she glared up at him. "And could you please stop looking me like that? I told you, it was that dive I took. Not everyone can fly off a bridge without getting a few cuts and bruises, you know."

"Yeah, I still can't believe I'm alive."

"I'm just happy you are." Elena relaxed, tried to smile, but ended up wincing from the pain in her jaw. Clark stopped right away and looked at her with worry, beginning to ask her if she was okay before the brunette shot him a warning look and he caught himself. Giving her a smile instead, both teenagers continued walking down the path to the Kent Farm, a surprised look on both their faces when they saw the expensive truck parked in front of the barn.

"Hey, Mom, who's truck?" Clark raced excitedly towards the redhead woman taking a seat on the small, red tractor.

Elena stood back and admired the shiny new truck with a big blue bow on its red and white hood. Looking up at Mrs. Kent, she saw her hand a white envelope to Clark and say, "It's a gift from Lex Luthor."

His smile grew brighter as he took the envelope from his mom's gloved hands and read the letter aloud, "'Dear Clark, drive safely. Always in your debt. The maniac in the Porsche.'" He turned around to take a second look at his new truck, Elena walking up to him and reading the letter for herself as he looked back at his mom in awe, "I can't believe it."

"Tell me about it," Elena muttered and handed Clark back the card, if not a little bit hurt.

She pulled out Lex Luthor out of a sinking car, then gave him mouth-to-mouth, and all he remembered is Clark Kent saving his life? Where were the keys to _her_ new truck?

"Where are the keys?" asked Clark, reading her mind.

Mrs. Kent stepped of the tractor and looked up at him, "Your father has them." She gave the teenagers a small smile before walking away, Clark looking from the truck at Elena nervously.

* * *

Knowing that an argument concerning the shiny new gift from Lex Luthor was bound to happen, Elena didn't know whether to follow Clark into the barn or not. At last, she trailed behind him, but only because she needed one of her English books from Clark's loft. Even then, she kept her distance when Clark found his dad at the other end of the barn feeding pieces of wood into a chipper.

Clark walked up to him, Mr. Kent glancing back at his son before flipping the chipper's switch off. He took his ear protectors and googles off, saying a nice hello to Elena as she smiled and waved back. He then shook his head at Clark, "I know how much you want it, Son. But you can't keep it."

"Why not? Elena and I saved the guy's life!"

"So you think that you deserve a prize?"

"That's not what I meant." Clark followed him inside the barn and tried to make his dad see it from another point. "Look, how about you drive the new one and I'll drive the old one? Everybody wins."

"This is not about winning, Clark." Mr. Kent countered as he closed the tool box on the shelf and, with hammer and nails in hand, walked to the staircase leading up to the barn's top floor.

"It's not like the Luthors can't afford it," Clark pushed on, his voice growing loud enough that Elena heard him clearly from the barn's front doors.

Mr. Kent put his hammer and nails down on one of the stair-steps and let out a heavy sigh. He tried not to let his anger take over, but he couldn't help but raise his voice as he looked at Clark, "Do you want to know how that is? Do you remember Mr. Bell? We used to go fishing on his property? How about Mr. Guy? He used to send us pumpkins every Halloween. Well, Lionel Luthor promised to cut them in on a deal. He sent them flashy _gifts_ ," he pulled out the new truck's keys from his jacket and twirled them around his finger. "Only once they sold him their property, he went back on his word; he had them _evicted_ , Son."

"So you're judging Lex on what his father did?"

"No, Clark, I'm not. I just want to make sure that you know where the money came from that bought that truck."

Clark avoided his father's eyes, his indignant expression saying it all as he went up the stairs to his loft.

"Clark," Mr. Kent sighed, "I know you're upset, Son, but it's normal."

Elena heard a loud thump from the stairs as Clark angrily threw down his backpack and whirled around to face his dad, "Normal?" He stormed down the stairs and stopped next to the wood chipper. "How about this?" Clark flipped the switch and the chipper roared to life, the blades inside rapidly turning as he shoved his hand into the feeder. "Is this normal?!"

A jolt of fear made Elena take in a sharp gasp as Mr. Kent exclaimed Clark's name in panic. The horrifying noise of gears grinding away didn't stop until he pulled out Clark's arm from the wood chipper, the man's blue eyes wide and terrified as he checked for any damage. But where the boy's long sleeve was tattered into nothing, his arm remained unscathed.

Both Jonathan and Elena stared up at Clark, astonished, while he only pulled his arm down to his side and added with frustration, "I didn't dive in after Lex's car. Elena did that, and only after it _hit me_ at 60 miles an hour! Does that sound normal to you?... I'd give anything to be normal." Without another word, he walked up the stairs and disappeared.

Elena stood awkwardly in front of Mr. Kent, who turned around to look at her and sighed again. Feeling the need to say something, she held up her hand, her heart still a little rattled from watching Clark try to tear off his arm, and pointed a finger up at the stairs, "If you want, I could go talk to him."

The blonde man sucked on his teeth, looking behind Elena at Martha, who looked at him expectantly, and he let out a breath before nodding no to her. "Thank you, Elena, but that won't be necessary. There's some things Clark needs to know; it'd be better if they come from me."

"Don't worry, Mr. Kent," Elena shook her head and smiled a small smile before he walked up the stairs, she turning to leave. Once outside the barn, she said goodbye to Mrs. Kent and made her way home.

* * *

The ornate box, adorned with a piece of silk ribbon tied in a perfect bow on top, sat on the small, round table standing on the porch when she arrived at her house.

Elena considered it being a bomb at first glance, but she quickly dispersed the crazy thought after noticing the small envelope neatly tucked under the red ribbon. Half-guessing what it was and half-curious of what it could be, she opened the envelope and read the short thank-you card signed by Lex Luthor.

She put down the card and envelope back on the table and opened his gift, revealing a new and expensive digital camera inside the box. "Well," she smiled down at the camera and took it out, already thinking of the amazing pictures she would take for the Torch, "you are very welcome, Lex Luthor."

* * *

Elena opened the front door of her house to stop a big fist from making contact with her forehead, grabbing the person's arm and twisting it to their back in a split second.

Clark emitted a sound that was somewhere between a groan and a laugh as he tried to look back at her from the deathly grip she had on him. "Before you go breaking my arm, can I just say: I come in peace?"

"Sorry," she finally let go and he turned around to face her smile, "but you almost took out my face. Besides, we both know I couldn't break your arm even if I was the strongest person on Earth."

Of course, she wasn't going to admit that she'd been expecting someone woman and caramel blonde to come in beating her ass like last night. Clark and Elena were best friends, and while both his family and him trusted her with his secret, there were things about her family she couldn't tell anyone. Being the daughter of an ex-assassin was one of those things.

With an understanding nod, Clark held out Elena's English book in his hand and explained, "You didn't get the chance to get it earlier, after what happened, so I came to give it back... I'm sorry you had to see all that."

"Yeah, you should be." She took the book and hit him on the shoulder with it. Of course, Clark didn't feel any pain but that didn't stop him from jumping half a step back, surprised at her aggressiveness as she added, "Your dad and I almost had a heart attack when you shoved your arm into that chipper, Clark!"

He looked at her apologetically, "I did get a little carried away."

She gave him a ' _you think?_ ' look before putting the blue book down on the rounded table, next to the small bundle of flowers, and asked, "Did you sort things out with your dad, then?"

If she hadn't been paying close attention, she would've missed the almost nonexistent shake of Clark's head as he grew quiet and avoided her eyes. She opened her mouth to ask him once more, but he looked away from the freshly picked flowers on the table and faced her, "Were you going somewhere?"

She nodded, "To see Evan... I would invite you, but I don't think a graveyard-"

"No, I'll go with you," Clark quickly said. After what his dad told him, a quiet place like the cemetery seemed the right spot to clear his thoughts.

Elena remained quiet for a short second and looked at him, puzzled. He knew well that she preferred going to visit her brother alone. Something must've been bothering him if he insisted on going with her.

"Okay," the brunette nodded slowly and finally said to him. Then took the keys from her jacket and locked the door behind them as she picked up the flowers on the table. "But if you're going to tag along I need to know what's really going on with you."

* * *

"What is this?" Elena asked Clark, taking a metal rectangular disc that he pulled out of his jean's pocket.

"No idea. Just that it's from my parents..." Clark looked down at Elena, who tried to read the strange symbols on the disc's side, and he let out a short breath before clarifying, "My biological parents."

She looked up at him with surprise. Elena and most of Smallville knew Clark was adopted but nothing was ever said about his real parents. Only recently Elena had been told how the Kents found Clark in a cornfield moments after the devastating meteor shower. It had taken years for them to finally trust her with the entirety of Clark's secret... Or at least she thought it was the entirety of it, as she now stared at the gray disc with confusion, "So this weird, encrypted disc is the only thing you have of them?"

"That... and my spaceship." At this, Elena stopped abruptly in the middle of the road and, although it was dark out, Clark could see just how wide her eyes were in the faint moonlight. Before she could ask anything else, he quickly explained, "It-It's how I came here, the day of the meteor shower."

"You're kidding, right?" She looked at him again, expecting a smug smile or anything that would indicate he was joking, but he was dead serious. "Okay..." she let out a breath and nodded before continuing to walk.

"Elena!" Worried that he had said too much and scared her away, Clark hurried after her, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you this way-"

"No, it's okay, Band-Aids," Elena slowed down so the two of them were walking side by side again and smiled, "there's nothing you should be sorry about. I always knew you were special, and considering that this is Smallville, home of the strange and weird, I shouldn't be too surprised, really."

Relief washed over Clark as he gave her a grateful smile, "Thank you, Elena."

"Yeah, whatever," she looked at the graveyard ahead and shrugged, finishing off sarcastically, "my best friend's an alien, wow! Big deal, right?"

Clark shook his head at her and laughed, Elena quickly joining before their laughter died down and the only sound on the road were the chirping sounds of crickets and the occasional owl's hoot.

"But wait, where do you even come from?" Elena couldn't help but ask after a few moments of silence, "Mars? The moon?"

"I-I don't know. My dad just told me all of this." Clark looked down at the metal disc in her hands and she gave it back. "I can't believe he hid something like this from me for all these years."

"Well, at least you know why you have superpowers now." She tried to lighten up the mood again with a smile but Clark didn't return it.

"They should've told me sooner. I spent all this time hiding my abilities, pretending to be normal, while they knew the truth. All my life I wondered what was wrong with me? But now, I'm not even human."

"Hey," she grabbed Clark's arm to stop him and turned him so she was looking up at him, "come on, Band-Aids. There is nothing wrong with you... You are just a bit more different than everybody else. Look, everyone has their own secrets. Yours just happens to be a spaceship hidden in your attic-"

"Storm cellar," Clark corrected with a hint of a smile.

" _Really?_ " Elena raised her voice and stared at him unbelievably, which only brightened Clark's smile. Ignoring his amused grin, the brunette sighed as they continued into the cemetery and she looked for her brother's gravestone. "My point is, Clark, whether you're alien, werewolf, or vampire," she stopped a few feet away from her brother's grave and gave him a sincere smile, "you are always going to be my best friend."

"And you're always going to be mine." He pulled her in for a hug, making sure not to hug her too tight as he'd done a couple times before, "Thank you, Elena."

With another smile, she stepped away from Clark's embrace and pointed a finger at him while she joked, "But I swear, Band-Aids, if you start to sprout a green pair of antennae on your head and a third eye..."

Clark tried his best not to burst out laughing in the middle of the silent graveyard as he grinned at Elena, "I can't promise you anything yet, but I'll try not to."

"Good," Elena said. She glanced behind Clark at the moving figure hidden in the dark as it stepped into the moonlight. "Looks like we're not the only ones creeping around in a graveyard tonight." She motioned her head at Lana Lang and Clark turned around to look at her. Smallville's one and only most beautiful and popular head-cheerleader coming to visit her deceased family in the dead of night? Probably the only thing Elena and her would ever have in common. "I think you should go talk to her," she told the raven-head boy.

"I can't stand three feet close to her without making a complete fool of myself." He turned to Elena shaking his head, hid his nervous hands in his jean's front pockets and looked down at the ground with embarrassment, "I don't think that's a good idea."

She snorted, "Of course it is!" Elena tightened her grip around the small bouquet of yellow tulips in her hand and stepped back in the direction of her brother's grave. "Just talk to her Clark."

He glanced back at Lana, who wandered through gravestones and trees, and turned to Elena with hesitant eyes.

"You know," she added, knowing this was the only chance he'd ever get to talk to the girl of his dreams, and she'd be damned if she didn't get his shy, secret-keeping-ass to do it, "she's been checking you out, too. I've seen her."

" _Elena_!" Even though it was too dark for her to see him blushing, the surprise in his widened, blue eyes was enough to make the brunette crack a bright smile.

"Goodbye, Clark." She didn't wait any longer and turned around, the smile on her lips dropping as she looked down at the flowers in her hand and remembered why she was here.

* * *

Elena let out a shaky breath as she knelt down in front of Evan's grave. The same yellow tulips from her last visit were now a wilted brown, and she traded those for the fresh, lively bouquet, noticing another less wilted bunch of arranged flowers against the gray stone.

They couldn't have been from her dad; he never stepped foot in the graveyard after Evan's burial. So that left her to think the flowers were probably from her mother.

Although it was not often that Magdalena came to see her dead son, she had been the most affected by his death. After all, she had been the first to find his body. Elena remembered coming home from the Kent's house that day and finding her mother on the floor, an utterly shattered look in her brown eyes, as she cradled her 15-year-old boy in her blood-covered hands.

"Hi, big brother." Elena tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear with her hand and placed it down on the bed of grass, smiling softly at Evan's gravestone. "Sorry I couldn't come by yesterday." She lifted her hand from the ground and wrapped it over her left arm while being careful not to touch the stitched cut. "I was kinda busy saving Lex Luthor's ass... I know, right? But I have to give credit to Clark, he was the real hero."

She moved again, sitting criss-crossed with her hands on her ankles as she played with the small band ring on her ring finger. It helped keep her mind occupied from realizing she was actually talking to a grave with a rotten corpse- her _brother's_ rotten corpse- inside it. These small absentminded movements were the only thing keeping her from breaking down and crying, they always did. That's why it was best to come alone whenever she wanted to see her brother. She wouldn't stand it if anyone, including Clark, were to see the true unstable mess she was.

No matter how beaten and broken she was, Elena knew not to show her defeat. It was about the only thing that her mother taught her and she was grateful for.

So she always talked about insignificant things whenever she came to visit Evan. Otherwise, if she paid much attention to how she really missed her older brother, the weight on her shoulders would give. And she could not take the fall, no matter how much she felt like giving up.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and thank you for all the follows and favorites! (Special thanks to Sjbird for being my first reviewer!)  
**

 **As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and any constructive criticism on this chapter! Thank you so much for reading, I wish you lovelies a good day/night! :)  
**


	3. Chapter 3

_"Pilot"_  
 _Part Three_

When the doorbell rang and Elena opened the front door to see her dad, her eyes lit up with happiness as she smiled, " _Papá_!"

"Elenita!" Isaac's usually gruff voice softened with joy as he hugged his daughter. "Hey, how's mi _nena_ doing?"

"I'm alright, Pa." With her smile still etched on her lips, Elena pulled away from her dad. She stepped away from the door and let him in, closing the door behind her. "Mom left a note; I thought you weren't coming until another two days?" she added, dropping her smile and replacing it with a questioning look.

She followed him through the small entryway and to the kitchen, where he took a seat at the kitchen island. Knowing he must've not had a proper meal in the last few days, Elena made a beeline to the fridge and started to prepare breakfast.

He tried not to show the fatigue in his overworked body, but he couldn't help but let out a tired sigh when he finally gripped the hot mug of freshly brewed coffee and let it warm up his cold hands. After taking a small sip, he answered Elena, "Two of my big surgeries were cancelled; the patients decided they'd rather spend their time left doing what they still could, instead of taking their chances on the medical table."

Putting enough bacon for the two of them on a pan, Elena turned around to face her dad with a small and comforting smile. "It's your job to save people's lives, Pa, but only if they let you. And if it counts for something," she changed her attention back to the sizzling bacon on the stove, and scrambled the eggs while reaching one hand to turn down the heat on the bacon, "I'm happy to have you home."

Isaac smiled and stood up to take out the plates from the top cabinet next to Elena, setting them down on the marble counter. "That is everything, _Nena_. Thank you," he chuckled softly, putting an arm around his smiling daughter, pressed a light kiss on top of her dark-haired head.

Pulling away, he suddenly noticed the fading bruise on the side of her jaw and looked further down at the stitched cut on her left arm. If only he wasn't so tired, he would've paid attention more quickly to Elena's new injuries. But now that he did, a burning anger rose to his already dark eyes as his demeanor changed from loving to concerned.

Elena put down their cooked breakfast on the island's counter-top and looked up at him, watching his jaw clench as he took in a breath and asked, "Did Magdalena make you train again?"

The brunette shook her head and stopped him from touching her stitched upper-arm, saying in a calming voice, "It's not as bad as it looks, _Papá_. It was only a test. She surprised me coming home from school, but she could've done much worse. I swear. The cut isn't even from Mom; I got it helping Clark save Lex Luthor after he crashed."

There was a long pause before he took a step back and nodded, "I heard about the accident on Loeb Bridge." He eyed the cut on her left arm one more time before he took his mug of coffee and breakfast plate, sitting across from her at the island. "That was foolish of you and your friend, Elena, but very brave. Just be careful _Nena_ , I don't want you running around town now, saving everyone that crashes into bridges and falls into rivers," he shrugged off his remaining anger with a joking smile that made Elena smirk in return as they ate their food.

"No promises." She finally relaxed her shoulders, relieved to see her dad's conversation turn a different direction. Although he would most likely have another argument about her training when her mother came back from her flight in a couple of weeks.

Evan had been trained by Magdalena, too, but her brother had wanted to. He believed that if their mother trained him to be the perfect warrior, the League of Assassins would be more willing to accept his offer to trade his allegiance to them for their mother's freedom.

Magdalena was against the idea at first. She didn't want her son to pay for her betrayal, but even at thirteen Evan knew that no matter how great Magdalena had covered her tracks the League would eventually find her and there wouldn't be an escape this time.

Elena had been still too young to understand, but Evan was smart and brave enough to make their parents see reason. Not much after, he began his secret training and, although Isaac was still against it, her dad was quick to give up and let them train.

Maybe he hadn't put up much of a fight because Evan was not his biological son. He didn't feel fully authorized to make the decision for him. But now that it was Elena, he tried to protect her as much as he could, failing to realize that Magdalena was also trying to the same.

Elena couldn't deny that in their own way they both loved her. She understood her dad's desire for her to live a life rid of violence. His want to let her know that she could choose a different fate and forget the past was not lost on her, but she couldn't ignore her mother either.

Yes, the woman's methods were harsh, illegal even, but they helped Elena fill the absence of Evan better than any other coping mechanism did.

This fate - this purpose to become someone that could have the strength and fearlessness of a warrior was something Elena liked sharing with her brother. Even if he was gone, this was something no one could ever rip from her. She couldn't help but feel him there whenever she stepped into their large basement, training with her mother just like he had done once.

So Elena understood her mother, and when it was the two of them sparring or combat fighting, she'd admit that it felt right. In those moments where she felt the pain in her muscles and the anger in her chest, she'd silently agree to become the person who would avenge her brother's death. Who would someday join the League of Assassins and become one of them, before returning all that anger and pain they put her through and tear their leader, Ra's al Ghul, from the inside out.

But then there were times where she stepped into the Kents' home, felt the kindness of their hearts and a love so pure, that the repulsion for wanting to become someone so vile and heartless came back. And she hated her mother for making her this way. She hated her father for not being there to stop her. She hated her brother for being so stubborn and smart and brave and stupid. But she hated herself the most, for lying to Clark, Martha, and Jonathan. A family of good people that loved her as their own and even trusted her with something that she could so easily destroy.

If only her brother were still here, she wished silently as the sun fully rose and shined through the kitchen windows announcing the start of a new day.

* * *

Isaac drove through town on the way to drop off Elena at school. Father and daughter both noticing the small crowd gathered around Frank's Auto Repair Shop.

As they passed by, the brunette caught sight of Chloe and Pete and turned to her dad, "Hey, Pa, could you stop the truck? I want to see what's going on."

"Yeah," he nodded and pulled over, parking beside the sidewalk.

Elena grabbed the new camera Lex Luthor gifted her and stepped out of the truck, her dad following behind as they quickly crossed the road to the other side.

"What's going on?" She asked Chloe and Pete when she found them, as an unconscious man on a stretcher was pulled out of the store by the paramedics.

"Hello, Pete, Chloe." Her dad said behind her with a smile.

"Hi, Dr. Castro," Elena's friends waved hello, trying to hide their surprise but Elena caught hints of it in their eyes.

Elena knew a fair share about her friends' personal lives, but when it came to her family matters there was not much- if anything- that Chloe, Pete, and Clark knew about her.

Come to think of it, Chloe had been the only one to stick her blonde, curious-reporter head into the Castro's business when she first arrived in Smallville. Elena and her had a rough start because of her meddling, but Chloe had a change of heart when she realized that digging up the truth about Elena's dead brother hurt the brunette, and she never again questioned Elena's scars and bruises or her absentee parents.

"I don't know," Pete said in response to Elena's question, "but that's the third guy this week."

"And they were all former jocks," Chloe added, noting down the facts on her notepad like any good reporter.

"From what I can tell, he could've been electrocuted. See the burns and blisters on his red skin?" Isaac pointed at the man's uncovered arms and the three teenagers nodded. Elena zoomed in on the victim's arms with her camera and captured a few pictures while Chloe made a note of it on her writing pad.

"Hey," Pete tapped Chloe's shoulder and both girls directed their attention to the boy he pointed at in the crowd, "who's the weirdo?"

The kid couldn't have been any older than them, though his clothes were a little late 80's and his face was ghostly pale, prominent dark circles under his eyes. Taking in the sight of him, Elena guessed he was probably an orphan or at the very least homeless.

"I don't know." The blonde standing next to her shrugged but motioned for Elena to snap a picture of the strange teen, "Let's check him out."

* * *

After Isaac offered to drive the three of them to school, the trio met up with Clark at the Torch office, before the school day ended, to research the strange happenings in town.

Chloe flipped through the pages of Smallville High's old 80's yearbooks, having agreed with Elena about the weird kid's fashion sense, while Elena uploaded the image of him to the computer at her desk.

"His name is Jeremy Creek," the short-haired blonde announced and walked to where Pete and Clark were gathered around Elena's desk with the 1989 school yearbook. "This is a picture of him, twelve years ago."

"Which is totally normal," Elena stated sarcastically and stood up from her rolling chair for the group to take a better look at the picture of Jeremy on her computer screen, "considering that I took this a few _hours_ ago."

"That's impossible." Clark looked up from the updated image of Jeremy, looking exactly as he did 12 years ago. "He'd be like 26 today. Must be a kid who looks like him."

"My money was on the evil twin theory, till we checked the Missing Persons," Pete gestured for Chloe to show him the records.

Without missing a beat, Chloe handed Clark the sheet that Elena printed out and he read it as Chloe summarized it for him, "Jeremy disappeared from the state infirmary a few days ago where he'd been in a coma for 12 years. They say he suffered from massive electrolyte imbalance."

"That's why he hasn't aged a day," said Pete, pointing at Elena's picture of Jeremy.

"So you're telling he just woke up." Trying to wrap his head around this, Clark walked over to Elena and propped himself on the side of her desk as he handed the paper back to her.

"Not exactly." Elena took the copy and ruffled through her desk for another report and showed it to him, "There was a huge electrical storm, and the hospital's generator went down. When it came back on, Jeremy was gone."

"The electricity must have charged him up like a Duracell," figured Pete.

"And now he's back in Smallville, putting former jocks into comas," he said with realization before another question popped into his mind. "Why?"

"Because twelve years ago today, they chose Jeremy Creek as the Scarecrow," Pete told him matter-of-factly.

"He's right. Take a look at this." Elena handed Clark a newspaper clipping that Chloe dug up from when the Meteor Shower took place.

"'Comatose Boy Found in Field, Twenty Yards from Meteor Strike'," the raven-head boy read the news headline, still not quite believing what he was being told.

Chloe stood in front of him to point at the newspaper, saying, "The exposure of the blast must have done something to his body."

"No," he looked up from the paper to meet Chloe's gaze before he pushed the newspaper clipping into her hands, "this can't be right."

Elena shot him an uncomprehending look, wondering why it was so hard for Clark, out of all people, to believe Jeremy Creek could have special abilities, until it clicked.

Twelve years ago, his arrival on Earth had caused the meteor shower. In a way, everything concerning the notorious meteor shower was tied back to Clark.

"I'm sorry, Band-Aids," she hoped calling him by the special nickname she'd given him a long time ago would make him aware of the true meaning behind her words. "But it's not that far of a stretch."

Pete walked over to Chloe and tapped her on the shoulder, insisting, "I think you ought to show him."

Chloe avoided Clark's and Pete's gaze as she turned her head at Elena and bit her lower lip nervously. From Chloe's desk, the brunette crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Pete, who was oblivious to what revealing their secret would do to Clark.

"Show me what?" Clark asked as he stood up from Elena's desk and eyed the three of them.

Elena could tell he already blamed himself for what was happening to Jeremy Creek. He didn't need another whole set of reasons to keep on feeling guilty.

"You've done it now, Military," she muttered under her breath to the dark-skinned boy, looking to Clark with an apologetic smile.

* * *

She opened the door to the Darkroom and flipped on the light switch, letting her friends enter the small and stuffy room.

"It started out as a scrapbook... and just kind of mutated," Chloe stepped in first as she explained to Clark, who followed behind her with Pete and Elena.

"What is it?" Clark asked, his wandering gaze set on the large expand of red wall covered in news articles and photographs.

"Elena and I call it the Wall of Weird." The young high school reporter smiled proudly, going over to the Wall of Weird, and spread her arms out for her friends to take it all in. "It's every strange, bizarre, and unexplained event that's happened in Smallville since the meteor shower. That's when it all began. When the town went schizo."

"What do you think?" Chloe put down her arms and continued to smile brightly, waiting for Clark to say something. But while her best friend waited for his validation, Elena looked up at him and nervously watched him stare at the wall no doubt battling his inner turmoil.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" He looked at Chloe and Elena, a rising anger in his tone, before he stood closer to the Wall of Weird and inspected the articles closely under the dim and ghoulish red lights of the Darkroom.

"Clark-," Not surprised by his anger, Elena walked over to him with a calming voice that was cut off by a rather defensive Chloe.

"Do you tell me everything that happens in your life? We all keep secrets, Clark," she looked at him unbelievably but he was too busy reading over some of the pages pinned to the wall.

A Smallville Ledger news article with the headline, "Area Man Gains Finger on Left Hand- Loses One on the Right," above an image of a man's hands with 6 fingers on his left and 4 on his right.

Another one under the same newspaper name this time with the headline, "River Dredging Uncovers Bizarre Glow-in-the-Dark Geodes ," with a picture of the rock split in half to show its shimmering purple-and-white crystals.

And finally, a cover of Time Magazine with the photograph of a three-year-old Lana Lang plastered on and featured next to the caption, "Heartbreak in the Heartland."

When Elena noticed Clark settle his eyes on the image taken seconds after the young girl, dressed in her fairy princess costume, found out about her parent's death caused by the meteor strike, she saw the burden of responsibility weighed on his face.

"It's not what it looks like, Clark," she whispered to him as he kept his eyes on Lana's picture.

"My fault," he breathed out, voice too low for anyone except Elena to hear.

She touched his arm with her hand, trying to make him face her as she said in a low voice, "No, this has nothing to do with-"

"It's all my fault," Clark cut her off and stepped back from her touch, bolting out of the Darkroom without looking at his friends.

Chloe turned from the opened door and crossed her arms at Elena, "What's his deal?"

The brunette looked between Chloe and Pete, who were better off not knowing the truth, as she sighed, "No idea."

"I screwed up, didn't I?" Pete said, remembering the horrified look on Clark's face when he first saw Lana on the Wall.

"I'll go talk to him, don't worry." Elena reassured them, and tossed the Darkroom's set of keys over to Chloe, who swiftly caught them, "Lock up, please."

"Okay, but don't forget that you're covering for me at the Homecoming Dance. I put your things in your locker; you can hand them back to me tomorrow." Chloe smiled as Elena scowled at the fact that she'd have to go to the dance. But Chloe couldn't write a story if she wanted to have fun at the dance tonight, so the brunette had no choice but to suck it up and attend.

"You owe me, Chief," Elena told her before she walked out, already dreading the Homecoming Dance tonight.

* * *

Her pair of black Converse squeaked every so often against the school hallway's polished floor as she tried to catch up to Clark, who most likely had gone looking for Lana.

The bell rang loudly and the students quickly swarmed out of their classrooms to go home. Before Elena reached the school's back-doors the principal called out, "Miss Castro, what exactly do you think you're doing?"

With a roll of her eyes, the brunette whirled around to face the tall, Asian, middle-aged man with a coy smile, "Hi, Principal Kwan."

"If I remember correctly, your detention period isn't over until this evening. Come along, young lady, or you'll be staying after school for more than the both of us would want." Principal Kwan gave Elena a stern look, and motioned for her to follow him to his office.

She held back an exasperated groan and walked behind the man, entering his office and taking a seat on the small couch beside his door.

Principal Kwan went over to his well-organized desk and set the timer, going through the same routine as yesterday as he opened up the blinds to the front view of the school yard and turned on the two sets of computers that monitored the school cameras behind him. "Your hour and thirty minutes starts now," he said to Elena while he finally sat down behind his desk and began reading some school papers.

The teenager slouched on the burgundy couch and looked up at the ceiling, playing with her SpongeBob SquarePants wristwatch as time slowly went by. After five minutes, she grew bored of trying to figure out what made the recessed lights in the ceiling so interesting and looked back down at the monitoring of security cameras.

Just when she was about to lose intrigue, the top right box on one of the computer screens showed Whitney Fordman and four other guys in the football team beat up a kid that was surely chosen to be this year's Scarecrow. Trying to get a better look at who the unfortunate freshman was, she leaned forward on the couch to get a better look, but she couldn't make anything of it, except for the fact that it took three jocks to throw the boy inside the back of the truck they drove off in.

"You've been awfully silent, Miss Castro." Principal Kwan looked up from his stack of papers and took off his reading glasses as he looked at her, "What's wrong? Is something troubling you?"

"Uh, yes... Yes," she looked away from the computers behind him and nodded, formulating a plan in her mind so she could get out of here and find out if this Scarecrow myth was actually true. "I'm supposed to be covering tonight's Homecoming Dance for a Torch issue, and I was wondering if you'd let me get ready now? That way, I won't be in a hurry." Principal Kwan looked at her with skepticism, and Elena acted quickly, taking off her camera from around her neck, "I'll leave my stuff here, but it won't take more than twenty minutes, I promise."

After a beat, Principal Kwan let out a breath, hoping he wouldn't regret this later, and nodded for her to go ahead, "You have twenty minutes, Miss Castro. I expect you to come back for another hour."

"Thanks, Principal Kwan," Elena smiled and bolted out of his office.

* * *

 **REVIEW RESPONSES**

 **Guest:** Thank you so much for your review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! :)

 **Kia' Vaizel:** I'm so happy to see you liked Between Shadows enough to want more! Thanks for the review, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! :)

 **Verona1700:** Aww thank you so much for the lovely review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, too! :)

 **theronjohn325:** Thank you so much for the review, it made my day! And yes, there was a mistake lol, my bad. I had it so originally, Elena brought an orange- but then I was like, "where is she going to put the orange peels?" so I edited it to be an apple instead and missed that one word. I'll be more careful next time, but thank you for pointing that out to me! I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, too! :)

 **A/N: And as always, for those who read, added this fic to their favorites/alerts, I thank you as well! It's just been two chapters, and the response I've gotten to Between Shadows has been so wonderful! I am going to work my hardest to upload the next chapter asap, but in the meantime I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and any constructive criticism on this chapter!**

 **Thank you so much for reading, I wish you lovelies a good day/night! :)  
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	4. Chapter 4

_"Pilot"_  
 _Part Four_

She raced to the girl's restroom with the outfit Chloe let her borrow for the night, needing to change in under seven minutes if she wanted her plan to work.

Locking herself in the first stall, Elena removed her shirt and bra while pulling off her shoes with her feet. With a shiver running down her bare back and the cold air-conditioning in the restroom hitting her chest, she moved quick and put on the short (but still appropriate for a school function) black dress with a crystal-beaded, strapless sweetheart bodice, taking off her jeans and socks in the process.

"Okay, almost there," she let out a breath after stuffing her school outfit in her backpack.

The hard part of getting ready wasn't the make-up or her hair (she'd already straightened it so it only needed a comb through to look presentable), but zipping up the back of her dress.

Luckily she was able to zip it before the seven minutes ran out, but she had to run out barefoot with her strappy black heels in hand to get to the Torch Office in time.

With twelve-and-a-half minutes left, Elena sat at her computer and began to work.

Chloe could've hacked into the school's security cameras in under five minutes, but unfortunately she was probably too busy deciding what dress to wear or what way she would style her hair. So Elena had to hack into the security system and then Mrs. Kwan's e-mail by her own, even if she wasn't that skilled with technology.

Fighting off a 200 lb. man and shooting from an one-and-a-half mile radius, that she was pretty good at.

But she rapidly dispersed the things her mother had taught her, as she gained access to the security cameras and looked back at the time Whitney and his asshole friends came up to the freshman in the school's parking lot.

Freezing the frame where she could make out the dark-haired boy's face, just before Whitney punched his face, Elena zoomed in on the boy and widened her brown eyes as she realized it was Clark.

"But how?" She zoomed out and played the footage of the football team beating up and kidnapping Clark, wondering how they even managed to lay a finger on her super-powered friend.

Not mulling it over in her head for too long, she continued with her plan and hacked into the principal's wife e-mail, sending an urgent message for him to go home immediately, and finally put on her heels before logging out and leaving with two minutes to spare.

When she reached Principal Kwan's office the man was already ready to leave, his face full of worry, and Elena almost felt bad for him. But then she remembered what was happening to Clark, and her anger returned.

Boy, were Whitney and his jackass friends going to get a piece of her mind for this. No, not a piece. She'd kick their sorry asses fully.

"What's wrong, Principal Kwan?" She returned to the matter at hand, feigning concern for the way the principal anxiously picked up his car keys and suitcase.

"A personal matter," he simply answered and handed back her camera, leading them out the door. "I'm afraid detention will be cut short," he told her while locking his office, truly not all that disappointed with letting Elena go home early.

"Oh." She kept her triumphant smile from showing, glad that her plan worked out. "See you tomorrow, then."

"No, no. That won't be necessary, Miss Castro." The dark-haired man turned to her with a mannered smile, "You kept your word and I trust that you have learned your lesson. I believe this is consequence enough, but don't let me see you in my office again."

Elena smirked at this, knowing that she'd return sooner than he expected, "Can't make any promises, _Jefe_."

* * *

The sun began to set just as she reached LuthorCorp's fertilizer plant on a bicycle she'd stolen half-way down Smallville, after realizing that she had no other form of transportation and running all they way to Riley Field was too much of a hassle.

The yellow bike's tires lifted loose dirt and pebbles off the fertilizer plant's driveway as Elena pressed the break-handle, Whitney's gray truck parked outside of the cornfield.

"Bastards," she spit out angrily at the sight of the vehicle and got off the bike before letting it fall on the ground.

They must've gotten here a few minutes before her, she realized, because the truck's hood was still warm from the engine when she went to check on it.

She kept herself from screaming out Clark's name, not wanting for Whitney and his friends to know she followed them, and climbed over the wired fence as her legs carried her through the field in a run.

The wooden cross where the Scarecrow hung wasn't too far away when Elena stopped and hid behind the green stacks of maize. Their cackling laughter set off a nerve in her jaw as she stood quiet, listening.

When the noises grew louder and Elena made sure they were too busy humiliating her kidnapped friend, she neared the small circular clearing. Twelve years ago, meteors had landed in Riley Field and deteriorated every crop in sight. All of the terrain had been fertilized now and corn grew healthily everywhere, except on the patch surrounding the scarecrow cross.

"Hurry, before he wakes up!" She saw Whitney order the two football players that stripped Clark of his clothes and shoes, until he was only left in his boxer shorts.

"Get the hell away from him," Elena stepped out with a low and threatening tone in her voice.

The two jocks who stripped Clark settled his unconscious body down against the cross, while the other two picked up the ropes and held them in their hands menacingly. All five guys turned around and looked at her in surprise, Whitney only for a second, before the right corner of his mouth curled up in a smirk.

"Well, if it isn't the loser's girlfriend," the group laughed aloud while he sniggered.

Elena clenched her hands into fists at her sides, but she repressed the urge to fight them and scoffed instead, "Grow up, Dim-Whit. I'm not anyone's girlfriend."

The guys behind Lana's boyfriend immediately stopped smiling. Their faces contorted with anger as they stepped closer and lowly growled at her. But like a pack of dogs, she knew they were all bark and no bite.

Whitney held up a hand for them to back away, he too fighting his growing anger as he walked over and stood in front of Elena, "I couldn't care less, but you better make sure to keep him away from Lana. Or stringing you both up as Scarecrows won't be the only thing I'll do to you."

"I told you to get the hell away from him," she spit back, "and that's _all_ you are going to do."

Her fist flew up and made hard contact with the side of his face in an instant, catching even herself off-guard when Whitney let out a groan and furiously spit out blood from his mouth. She had felt her anger coiled inside her, but she never expected it to be so blinding once she let it free.

Although, she had to admit punching Whitney Fordman square in the face felt wonderful.

"You bitch!" He made an attempt to get back at her. Surprised when the girl grabbed his hand and squeezed hard enough to cut the blood circulation from his wrist down.

With her free hand, Elena punched him once more as he fell to the ground heaving and cursing loudly while holding his hurting jaw in his hand.

Looking up from where he knelt, she braced herself for the fight as the other guys charged at her mercilessly.

"Don't let her get away!" One exclaimed as Elena ducked her head at an oncoming fist and kicked her attacker in the stomach.

The brown-haired jock stumbled back. The tallest one stepped in to try and restrain her. He reached to press a hand on her neck, while his other one tried to hold her by the shoulder.

She slapped his hand away from her neck, tightening the grip on his arm to twist it up as she lifted her right arm and elbowed him below his jaw.

He stepped back and tried to cry out in pain, but his hurt throat only allowed him to cough loudly while he tried not to choke on his saliva. But Elena's moment of victory was short-lived, when the two senior football players ganged up on her and threw the rope around her torso from behind her.

She writhed violently in the blonde guy's hold after he pulled her back against his chest. And although he struggled to keep her bound, he let out a chuckle, "Are you some kind of spy, babe? 'Cause damn, you just took down three guys!"

"Too bad there's two of us left," the senior in front of her said as his green eyes glared at her, but Elena smirked knowingly when he refused to take a step closer to her.

"Well, please, let a girl finish first." She bent over with all her strength, pulling the guy behind her on her back, and flipped herself so the jock landed with a loud thump on the ground while she sat on top of him.

She remained still for a second, blinking the disoriented from her heard, and quickly moved her right leg to press the sharp heel of her shoe to the blonde's throat. "No one move," Elena looked down at the football player below her and shared the same enraged glare as him, feeling him tightly gulp under the pressure of her black heel, "or I'll dig this shoe through his throat!"

"Are you crazy, bitch?!" His friend widened his green eyes at her. Elena ripped off the rope around her and made the jock scream as she made a small puncture, enough for drops of blood to trail down his neck.

"Damn right, I am," she said between breaths and looked up at the green-eyed jock. "And when I get up, you're gonna let me walk away with Clark and this will never be brought up ever again. Because kicking all of your asses was self-defense, seeing as you kidnapped us, got it?"

The guys shared a look before he put his hands up in the air and stepped back, nodding, "Okay. Okay, _fine_! You can go."

Elena relaxed her shoulders and rolled her eyes at the senior wincing as she took off her heel from his neck. " _No seas ridículo_ ," she muttered under her breath while he brought a shaky hand up to his throat, before she stood up. "It was just a scratch-"

Behind her, Whitney swung one of Clark's work boots against the back of her head. She felt the hard hit too late as her vision clouded with pain. In a few seconds, she felt the strength wash away from her body, closing her eyes to be consumed by the darkness before she hit the ground.

* * *

When Elena came to, the sky was no longer orange with the setting sun. Her skin was bathed in moonlight, freezing with the autumn cold, and on her tattered black dress there was a painted red "S" all over her torso.

With her hands spread and tied to the back side of the cross, she slowly rolled her hurting head back but the groans and moans sounding off into Riley Field were not hers.

"Clark?" Her voice came out coarse, so she tried again, "Clark. Clark, are y-"

"Elena!" Clark hastily turned his head to see her behind him, but he cried out when a rupture of pain coursed through his body.

"No," she breathed out worryingly, hearing his pain, "I'm okay. Just don't move, Band-Aids."

"I need to get us down," he said and groaned again as he tugged on the ropes around his wrists, feeling them dig into his tender skin. Not having enough strength to rip the ropes binding him up to the cross, he hung his head and breathed out tired breaths. He'd never felt so much pain in his life. He'd never felt pain at all, until today.

"What the hell happened?" Elena asked, watching her breath come out in visible puffs of air as she shivered in the cold.

"It's the necklace," he told her, barely above a whisper. "Whitney put Lana's necklace on me before the team threw me in his truck." The delicate silver chain hung from his neck, and he noticed its charm glow a bright green against the red painted "S" on his bare chest. "Something about it makes me sick. It's why I can't get close to Lana when she has it on, and why I couldn't fight back earlier."

"And can't get us down," Elena breathed out, tugging on her ropes to no avail.

"I'm sorry," Clark gulped, his voice pained.

"Don't you dare, Band-Aids," Elena shook her head and softly said to him. But anger rose inside her as she finished, "The only ones who should be sorry are Whitney and his team. But don't worry, we'll figure something out."

There was a silent pause before Clark said from behind her, "How are you here? You didn't follow them to beat them up, did you?" The unsettling quiet between his joke and her reply made him ask more seriously, "Did you?"

"Band-Aids...," she bit her bottom lip, knowing that she was busted and couldn't lie to Clark.

"Elena, they were five against one!"

"For a hot minute it wasn't," she let out a laugh that soon turned into a whine under the throbbing pain of her shoulders and head. Still, the image of the blonde trying to explain the bruise on the side of his neck as a hickey-gone-wrong left her with a small smile on her lips.

The sudden rustle of swaying stacks being moved out of the way made Clark and Elena still and the amusement fell from her features.

"Help!" Clark rasped out as Elena wondered who had found them. "Please, help us."

"It never changes," a male voice finally said when a teenage boy stepped into the clearing.

"You're...," Clark lifted his head to look at him, trying to place the guy's familiar face. "You're Jeremy Creek."

"The ageless weirdo?" Elena realized, annoyed that she couldn't see what was going on between Clark and him as she was tied up to the backside of the wooden cross.

She faced nothing but row after row of corn stacks while Jeremy kept talking, "It hurts doesn't it? I thought if I punished them it would stop. But it never stops."

"Take us down," Elena said to him, holding back the pain coming from her raw, bleeding wrists and ankles, "and I promise you that I'll make them stop."

"Elena." Clark let out a small groan as he twisted his right hand over to lace his fingertips with hers and calm her down. He looked back down at Jeremy, feeling her gentle and comforting squeeze on his fingers. Panic rose in his ragged breath when they boy walked away from them, "Wait, where are you going?"

"Homecoming Dance." He turned around and replied with a smirk, "I never made it to mine."

"Get us down. Please," Clark pleaded once again but Jeremy didn't listen.

"You're safer here," the lanky kid turned his back on them and disappeared into the rows of corn stacks.

"Dammit," Elena let go of Clark. Drawing in a deep breath, she tugged the ropes around her wrist forward and felt them bite into her bleeding flesh as she bellowed, "Take us down! Help! Help us!"

"Please, help," Clark tried shouting, but his lungs burned and his body ached with every small movement he made. Like the life was being sucked out of him.

"Help!" Elena repeated but she knew no one would come for them. She cried out and writhed her left hand against the rope, finding the knot to be more loose than the other two. However, she couldn't untie it - not without either breaking something in her hand to freely slid off the ties, or her right shoulder to reach and untie the rope with her mouth. "Clark, how are you holding up?" she asked, not wanting to do either of those things just yet. "Clark, talk to me... Clark!"

He finally moaned, feeling too weak to form words, but Elena let out a sigh of relief, "Okay, I'm gonna get us down. Just hold on for me."

Breaking something in her hand it was, then. She took in a shaky breath and clenched her jaw at the oncoming explosion of pain as she began to pull her left hand out of the rope.

The rope wasn't even past her knuckles when a new, yet familiar, male voice breathed out in surprise, "Clark?" The young man walked to the other side of the cross and shone his flashlight at the brunette, "Elena?"

"Lex," she breathed out with joyous relief at the sight of his face, giving the ropes another slight tug as she weakly voiced, "would you mind?" Without a word, he dropped his flashlight and began to untie the rope on her ankles, but she shook her head, "No. No, get him down first. Please."

Lex looked over at Clark. The boy was slipping out of consciousness, sweating with fever, and had a trail of blood down his jaw, so he nodded at Elena before taking him down from the cross first. In the process, Lana's necklace fell from his neck and Clark's strength returned as he thanked Lex and helped him get Elena down.

"Are you okay?" Clark's voice was stronger, she realized, feeling her body finally admit to its weakness as she held on to his arms to stay up.

"I will be," she nodded and whispered, "but you need to go. Jeremy..." She trailed off, quickly becoming tired now that the adrenaline was let out of her system.

"I know, I know," he said, still holding her in his arms as he turned to Lex.

"Who did this to you?" the young Luthor questioned, picking up Clark's clothes and shoes, and handed them to him.

"It doesn't matter. Listen, can you make sure Elena gets home safely? I still have something to do."

Lex looked over at the brunette, who despite the injuries on her wrists and ankles and the stitched wound on her bicep, managed to stand up after letting go of Clark. "Of course, I assure you she'll be in good hands. But, Clark, you need to see a doctor, too."

"Don't worry about me," he shook his head, finishing putting on his clothes as he pulled down his blue sweatshirt over his head. "I'll be okay."

"At least let me give you a ride!" Lex called out but Clark was already out of sight, running through the cornfield in a hurry to get to the Homecoming Dance. Elena lifted the corners of her lips into a small smile, watching him go, and Lex sighed while taking off his suit jacket and draping it over her shoulders, "Let's get you to a hospital."

She tugged on his jacket, welcoming the sudden warmth against her cold skin, but took a step back from him and searched for her heel shoes, "I appreciate what you did for us and what you're trying to do, but I'm fine." She found the pair of shoes a couple inches away from the wooden cross and bent down to retrieve them. Overcome with a dizzying feeling and an urge to throw up her insides, she couldn't help but stumble down to the ground.

"Whoa, hey," Lex came rushing by her side and pulled her up. He held her arms as he took the heels from her. "I promised Clark to look after you, and you need medical attention."

"I can't let my parents know about this," she shook her head, more worried about disappointing her dad, after he told her not to get into any more trouble, than anything else.

But she couldn't go home with a bloody and ripped dress, either. Her dad thought she was at the dance right now, not freezing her ass off in the middle of Riley Field.

Lex nodded at her understandingly and said, "Then I'll take you to the mansion. We'll have one of my private doctors take a look at you there. Everything that happens will stay between Clark, you, and me. You're parents don't have to know."

She looked down at Lex's hold on her arms and then at her bloody and scraped wrists, finally agreeing with a sigh, "Okay, fine." At this, Lex let go of her arms to try and wrap one around her waist. She immediately jumped back with wide eyes, "The hell do you think you're doing?"

He stood straight but couldn't help his amused smile as he gently said, "You can't walk, Elena."

When she realized he would have to carry her to his car, she properly put on his jacket and let out a slight huff in agreement. "Thank you. But next time give a girl a heads up before touching her... _any_ where."

Lex let out a soft chuckle but he sincerely said as he scooped her up in his arms, "You're right, I apologize."

"And try not to crash this time," Elena added before wrapping her arms around his neck after a bit of hesitation. The only other person who she let herself be carried by was Clark, whenever he used his powers and she jumped on his back before he sped off. It didn't feel right letting someone else carry her, but she pushed the feeling to the back of her mind and decided to not make a deal out of it.

Unaware of her slight discomfort, Lex shook his head and smiled down at her, "I better get used to that. The Kents and you are never going to let me live it down."

* * *

After thanking Lex for all he did and leaving his glamorous mansion all patched up by his doctor, Elena told his chauffeur to drop her outside of the Kent's farm. She wanted to check on Clark before she headed home for the night, carefully walking up the stairs to his loft, or what Mr. Kent liked to refer as Clark's "Fortress of Solitude."

"Hey," she dug her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, having changed out of Chloe's tattered dress and into her own clothes back at Lex's place.

Clark backed away from his telescope and turned around to smile brightly at her, "Elena! What are you doing here?" He went over and turned down the boombox on the table so the music was just background noise. "You should be resting."

Elena put her hands in front of her, letting him see the white bandages wrapped around her wrists as she waved off his concern, "I may not have super-healing abilities, but they're just scratches and scrapes. Nothing a little time won't heal."

Clark led them to sit down on the red couch, saying, "I never did thank you for coming to my rescue."

Elena leaned back on the furniture with a scoff, "What a rescue!" She turned her head to the side and saw him smiling before she asked, "So how did it go? Were you able to swoop in and save the day?"

"You mean, night?" Clark gave her a joking smile as he motioned to the moon above.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes but smiled all the same.

"I did," He dropped his smile and said more seriously. "Jeremy lost his memory in the process, but I made sure he'll be okay." His gaze flickered away from the hayloft's window opening and met the warm brown of Elena's eyes, deep in thought.

"What?" She moved her head back a bit and smiled nervously at him staring at her for a little longer than necessary.

"Nothing," he looked away from her and shrugged, but he continued to talk, "I just- You didn't even get to see the Homecoming Dance because of me. And I'd ask you to dance but..." His eyes settled down at her bandaged ankles and his face fell.

Elena clicked her tongue in dismissal and smiled at her friend, "Don't worry, it's not like I wanted to go anyway." She looked down at her feet, and while Elena didn't consider herself a porcelain doll that could break with a slight mishandle, she'd admit that dancing wasn't the best idea at the moment. Meeting Clark's eyes, she nodded, "And we'll take a rain check on that dance for sure. How about we just study the stars for now?"

"Sounds like a plan," he agreed, and they both went back to gaze up at the sky while they listened to the soft music play.

* * *

 **A/N: And this concludes the "Pilot" episode! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it's been a while but I finally got the inspiration I need to write more of Elena's story! As always, for those who read, added this fic to their favorites/alerts, I thank you! But I'll be honest and say that reviews are the best way to get me writing and updating faster, so if you like this story please make sure to leave a review saying so!**

 **Thank you so much for reading, I wish you lovelies a good day/night! :)  
**


	5. Chapter 5

_"Metamorphosis"_

 _Part One_

Elena studied her bruised wrists with a frown. Knowing that she'd be wearing long sleeves for the next couple of days, she stood up from her bed with a sigh and headed to her closet for a change of clothes.

In a pair of dark jeans and a light-blue button down shirt thrown over a white tank top, Elena left her throwing knives behind as she tried coming down the stairs while putting her Converse on.

If she'd gotten out of yesterday's situation without them, she figured she didn't need them for today.

"You ready, _Nena_?" Isaac called from the front door, truck's keys already in hand and a foot out the door.

"Yeah, yeah!" With her shoes finally on she stormed down what was left of the stairs and hurried over.

"What took you so long?" He smiled at her as they made their way to his black pickup truck. The limp in her right foot as she rushed down the stairs had been slight, and he knew better to not overlook those things. But their morning started out on a bright note, so he kept his question vague and tried not to ruin their little tradition of going to the farmer's market the morning after he came home. Especially after it had taken Elena a while to continue going without Evan.

Elena got inside the truck and resisted the urge to nervously tug down the end of her sleeves as she lied, "Running low on clean underwear." Her dad made a face as he drove onto the road and she quickly added with an amused grin, "Don't worry, Pa, I eventually found some."

"Thank God," he glanced at Elena for a second and let out a small chuckle before turning his eyes back on the road.

She smiled but, inside, she didn't know whether to be proud or disgusted for lying yet again. And not just to her dad, but to Clark, Martha, Jonathan, Chloe, Pete... The list was just never-ending.

But today wasn't the day to lament her dark past and secrets.

No, the sun was shining and birds flew merrily across a beautiful blue sky. It was a perfect day to spend with her dad at the market, buying delicious food and fresh flowers for Evan.

 _Pretending to be happy, pretending to be normal._

* * *

Elena's smile remained on her lips while they passed by the buyers and stands at the farmer's market, but inside she couldn't help but feel something missing. _Someone_ , she corrected herself as she wandered off to a small jewelry stand. Fingers fidgeting again with the yellow watch on her wrist, the absence of her brother grew heavy on her chest.

Again, she wouldn't let it get it in the way of ruining this morning with her dad. Being the first time she visited the farmer's market without it being the three of them, Elena knew that four years of putting this off was enough. Besides, Evan wouldn't want her visits to the market to be tarnished by her grief.

She stopped playing with her watch and brushed a hand over the display of necklaces instead.

"And she gazed down at the assortment of jewelry," the voice of Elena's blonde reporter friend deepened, overdramatizing that one of a narrator's, "her forlorn expression adding to the mystery behind her eyes…"

"Oh, shut up." Elena turned to Chloe and gave her a light shove on the arm as she let out a laugh.

"Hey," Chloe laughed and tried to avoid the hit unsuccessfully. After their laughter died down, she added with a grin, "No, seriously Elena. You do give that 'brooding vampire' look more often than not."

"Well, finding your brother dead will do that to you," the brunette said and Chloe immediately swallowed back her words.

"Crap," she breathed out, her green eyes softening, "I'm really sorry Elena. I didn't-"

"Relax, Chief," Elena broke out an amused smile and Chloe stared back at her, confused. "It's called dark humor. You know, something to go along with my 'brooding vampire' look."

"Very funny," Chloe said sarcastically but she nodded with relief. Tilting her head slightly to her right, she remembered the important question. "Why weren't you at the Homecoming Dance? I had to cover both the game and dance on my own."

"That's right, I wasn't." Elena winced softly. Even though the blonde tried hiding her anger, it showed through her eyes. Elena needed to apologize for failing her friend like that. "And I am extremely sorry to have broken my part of our deal, but I will make it up to you I-"

Chloe quickly held up a hand and stopped her, "No, no, don't say you promise. That'll only jinx it. But you can take over Greg's missing articles if you want to make it up to me." Before Elena wholeheartedly agreed, Chloe's eyes widened for a second as she added, "Oh, and the dress is yours. You can have it, it looked better on you than it did on me anyway."

"Absolutely, it's a done d-," the brunette stuttered and she caught herself with a knowing smile, "not-gonna-say-deal, because that will mess it up."

Pointing a finger over at the 'Kent Organic Produce' stand, Chloe chuckled softly in approval, "We are waiting for you back there, okay?."

Elena glanced over at her other pair of best friends setting up their things and smiled at Chloe, who started walking away, "Okay, be there in a minute!"

Her dad browsed the vegetable section and picked out a few cobs of corn already when Elena came up to him. Noticing some of the other vegetables on display, she said, "Ooh make sure to get-"

"Lettuce and cucumbers," Isaac grabbed a cucumber and turned to her with a smile, bopping her lightly on her head with it as he nodded, "yeah, I know."

She brushed her fingers through her hair and combed the area he messed with. "Thanks. I'm going to be with the Kents, if you need me."

"Alright, _Nena_." He returned to his shopping, purchasing the cucumber he picked up along with a couple more, lettuce, and a small bunch of carrots.

* * *

"Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Kent!" Elena smiled at the married couple who she considered to be like second parents to her.

They both were quick to greet her with warm smiles and hugs, Martha giving her one of her red apples while Jonathan let her know that Clark waited for her by their loaded truck.

With her bitten apple, Elena waved goodbye and headed for the trio of friends.

After her short greeting, Clark asked her to help unload the crates of produce only to pull her away for a minute to ask, "So how are you doing?"

Knowing that he was talking about last night, she placed the crate of lemons down on the grass and took out the apple she held between her teeth. "Fine, the swelling has gone away and it doesn't hurt as bad anymore," she looked up at him and he smiled brightly in return.

"I'm glad you're okay, Elena."

She put the half-eaten apple in the basket of green apples and took it from his hands, nodding at him with a smile, "Same goes for you, Band-Aids."

"All hail the Homecoming King and Queen!" Chloe announced and the two turned to see Smallville High's most beloved couple walking their way.

The sight of Whitney set off hot steam out Elena's ears, but she managed to conceal it along with Clark for the sake of Lana and everyone around.

"Clark, I didn't see you at the dance last night," the dark-haired cheerleader smiled at him, sparing another smile at Elena.

Once upon a time, the two girls had considered themselves best friends. Ever since their first grade science teacher paired them up as lab partners, the two became almost inseparable. They had found in each other someone who they could finally confide in as six-year-olds.

With Elena, Lana felt free to talk about her dead parents and the rest of the scary things that went on in her 6-year-old head.

And while Lana was grateful for a friend that was kind enough not to judge her, Elena realized that with Lana she could be a normal little girl for a change.

Around the orphan girl, Elena lived a life where her biggest of worries was needing help to zip up the back of her fairy costume dress. No having to think about Evan giving up his life for her safety, or the League coming after them to kill their traitor of a mother.

With Lana, Elena had always felt as if she were living in a fairytale. But like in every story about fairies, the dark fairy eventually appeared and tried to snuff out the light.

It was Elena's darkness that had snuffed out their friendship, and after that terrible day by the river Lana and her never spoke again.

Life was definitely no fairytale, and it didn't have a place where someone as darling as Lana Lang could continue to be friends with a terrible person like her, Elena thought as she smiled a small smile in return. Her gaze darting over at Lana's boyfriend while she continued to internally punch the smug smirk off his face until he bled red.

"Oh, I was…," Clark shot Whitney a look and watched as the blonde tried to shrug off Elena's sharp-daggered glare on him. "A little tied up," he finally finished, holding onto his inner-raging friend beside him by the hand in order to stop her from doing something she might regret.

To Lana however, it looked like Clark and Elena had chosen to spend their night together. For that second, she glanced between them and their held hands but she didn't say anything else and simply nodded.

"Hey!" Mr. Kent walked over to the group of teens and grinned at the couple.

"Congratulations," the man lifted his right hand and patted Whitney's shoulder after offering Lana an apple, "that was one heck of a game. I haven't seen an offense that good since I played."

A bright smile lit up Whitney's face as he shook hands, "Thank you, Mr. Kent."

Elena rolled her eyes and let go of Clark's hand to cross both arms over her chest.

If only Mr. Kent knew what the star-quarterback player and his team had done to his son last night, a pat on the shoulder wouldn't have been what he had given him.

"I'm going to get the rest of the boxes out of the trunk," Clark announced, not standing this uncomfortable situation any longer.

"I'll help," Whitney offered, nonchalant.

"That is-," Elena stepped forward, ready to beat the hell out of him until he admitted the truth in front of Mr. Kent, but Clark stood in front of her. He placed a box of apples on her arms and looked down at her with a pleading look, and she understood with a sigh. "Very kind of you," a fake smile on her lips, she eyed Whitney once more before turning around.

* * *

With Whitney gone, Elena eventually relaxed and stopped taking her anger out on the poor crates of produce. She loaded them out of the Kents' truck gently, instead of putting them down on the ground and imagining it was Whitney's jerk-face that hit the patch of grass with a hard thud every time.

"I see you've finally stopped murdering the fruit." Elena turned to her side and saw Lex, dressed in a, no doubt, thousand-dollar suit. He picked out a red apple from a wooden crate on the floor. After a second of inspection, he turned it in his hand to point out its bruised skin on the other side with a smirk, "What did this harmless apple ever do to you?"

"What didn't it do?" She countered with a smile as she picked up the produce and went to set it down on the Kent's stand.

When she returned to the pick-up truck, Lex had found Clark already.

"Can't knock your taste in women," the young man smirked at Clark, who turned around with a slight blush for being caught staring longingly at Lana from a distance.

"Any of you want to tell me what happened last night?" Lex asked Clark, along with Elena as she now stood by the raven-head's side.

"It was just a stupid prank." Clark shrugged it off.

"You were tied to a stake in the middle of a field. Even the Romans saved that for special occasions." He pointed out, dismayed. "You two could have died out there."

"But thanks to you we didn't," Elena let out sincerely, before continuing, "and we appreciate your help but…"

"We just want to forget it ever happened," Clark met her gaze with a nod and said to Lex.

"Hey, Clark. What is the hold up, son?" Mr. Kent came over and grabbed a crate of corn from the back of his sky-blue truck, looking up at the two teens and noticing Lex standing there.

"Mr. Kent, it's good to see you," the younger Luthor offered his hand to him first.

For a moment, Elena thought Mr. Kent would leave him hanging again but after a second's hesitation, he reached out and gave him a firm handshake.

"Lex," he even managed to smile a bit, before he turned to Clark and carried the corn. "Come on, we've got to finish up."

"Okay, Dad," Clark nodded at him as he left.

"At least I got a handshake this time," said Lex with everything considering, and gave Clark a smile as he followed behind Mr. Kent.

"Elena! Elenita!" Isaac whistled at her a few feet away.

Seeing him, the brunette held up a thumbs up. "And that's my dad calling," she looked at Lex with a smile, noticing that he still had that apple in his hand. "Hey, would you do me a favor and nurse that poor apple back to health? You seemed to do a pretty good job with me," she rolled up one of her sleeves and showed him her bruised, but otherwise fine, wrists as she walked away.

Chuckling, Lex raised the apple and nodded, "I'll try my best, Elena."

* * *

When the news about Whitney's car exploding on the road, a few hours after Elena and Isaac had left the farmer's market, got around, Elena went to see Clark.

The Kents had been down that road when the accident occurred. Knowing Clark, it was safe to say that he had been the one to save Whitney from his imminent death.

"Karma's sure a big bitch, huh?" Elena called out, picking up her pace to a sprint when she saw Clark walk out of the Kent Barn.

"Could you be any more sensitive, Elena?" He let out sarcastically, shaking his head and smiling at her words.

"Oh come on," she looked up at him, "it could've been worse. All Whitney got was a few scratches, which is much less than what I would've let him off with if you hadn't stopped me from beating his ass at the farmer's market."

"It would've been well deserved," Clark nodded before adding, "but you can't just go around punching people, even if they did cross you first."

"I know," she sighed. "Sometimes I gotta let karma do the dirty work for me, and hey," she shot him a bright smile, "look how great things turned out with Whitney!"

However, Clark didn't seem so enthusiastic as he frowned a little at Elena, "That is not what I mean-"

"I get it. I do, really," she finally agreed. With a soft laugh, she admitted, "I'm just messing with you."

"Oh, well if you're just messing with me," Clark feigned a sigh of relief and finished with a smirk, "then you won't mind driving me to Lex's."

"You're kidding, right? I barely know how tell the gas pedal from the breaks yet," she added when Clark gave her a serious look.

"Come on, we both know you can make it to the Beanery and back," he smiled and handed her the keys to the blue pickup truck.

"Yeah, but I'm going 10 miles an hour most of the way." Elena hesitated to take the keys but at last she did, letting out a groan that made Clark grin. No matter how badly she wanted to swipe off the boastful smile on his face, his Kent charm denied her the chance as she shook her head in defeat. "Fine, but you've been warned Clark Kent."

"Practice makes perfect." He bent down to pick up the stack of four boxes of produce and stood straight, leaning his head to the side so he could meet his best friend's eyes as he added, "I trust you, Elena."

"That's what I'm afraid of," she muttered to herself before twirling the set of keys around her finger and followed Clark to the truck.

* * *

So this is what the inside of the famous Luthor Mansion looked like, Elena thought, taking in the priceless art pieces and paintings mounted on almost every wall she set eyes on. Last time she had been here, she insisted to be taken to the service quarters for a quick patch-up from one of Lex's doctors. Still worried about Clark and wanting to head home as soon as possible, she hadn't let herself be taken on a tour by Lex.

As Clark and her waited in one of the mansion's many rooms, she silently admired the ancient artifacts and medieval weapons put on display. Finally, she walked to the center of the room where Clark looked over a 3D scale model of the Trojan war.

"Holy shit," she let out under her breath, impressed with the priceless model set in front of them and ran her fingers over the soft hair of one of the miniature black horses.

Who's to say it wasn't actual horse hair?

Her wondering was interrupted when Lex spoke up from the door behind them with a smile, directing at Elena first, "Language, please, Elena."

"Lex," she turned around with Clark and returned his smile.

"Save any lives on the way over?" he looked at Clark jokingly while walking over to them. "You keep it up and you could make a career out of it."

Clark smiled brightly at the wild thought and shook his head, "I was just dropping off your produce. Sorry my parents gave you a hard time."

"Ah, if push came to shove, I would have arm-wrestled them for it," Lex admitted, referring to the produce.

"So," Elena looked up at the billionaire's son once he stood across from her, "what's the deal with this?"

"Planning an invasion?" Clark questioned the small-scale battlefield settled between the three of them, too.

"My father gave this to me when I was nine," Lex replied. The faraway look that crossed his eyes for a second didn't go unnoticed by Elena.

"Cool gift," nodded Clark, but the girl knew better than to think of it as just another gift.

Much like the pair of throwing knives in the sole of her shoes right now, she sensed the 3D model was not much of a present and more of a lesson.

"It wasn't a gift. It was a strategy tool." Elena held Lex's gaze with a subtle understanding for what he meant as he continued, "My father equates business with war. It's the battle of Troy. It started because two men were in love with the same woman." Lex turned to Clark with a smirk. "Kind of like you and the quarterback. I'd say that's why he strung you up in that field," he met eyes with Elena again, "but you were part of their ploy, too."

The brunette let out a small chuckle and shook her head at him. "Their intention wasn't to make me the Scarecrow. I got involved trying to save Clark. If he's the brave warrior of this story, I'm more like his loyal war horse," she looked at Clark standing next to her and finished with a proud smile.

Clark smiled back before speaking to Lex, not helping the downcast look in his eyes while he said, "If we're at war, Whitney's pretty much won her."

"You lost one battle, Clark, that's all," Lex gently patted the boy's back and smirked before adding, "Besides, I don't believe Lana's as infatuated as you think."

Clark shook his head and tried not to get his hopes up, "They guy's captain of the football team. The whole town treats him like a god; game over."

Lex stepped away from them, pacing as he thought aloud, "If you hadn't pulled him out of that truck, your problems would be solved."

Elena's corner of her mouth curled up in a half-smile, the young man's way of thinking very similar to hers. And of course, Clark pointed a disapproving look in Lex's direction at the suggestion, just like he had done to her moments earlier.

"I'm kidding of course," Lex smiled jokingly at the two, which made Clark relax and smile, too. "Don't worry, Clark. I've got your Trojan horse."

Elena's eyebrows knitted together in confusion while Lex reached over to one of his luxurious bookshelves above the fireplace and pulled out a small box. At first glance it seemed like an old jewelry box, but then it was brought closer to Elena and Clark and she could clearly see it was more than that. An armored chest that fit in one's hand was more fitting. Elena studied the dragon symbol on the metal box's lid when Lex lifted his right hand and opened it.

Lana's green necklace glowed inside Lex's box and Elena immediately tensed at the sight of it. Her body slyly moved between Lex and Clark, closer to her best friend as he furrowed his eyebrows in pain.

"Clark, you okay?" Lex noticed him backing away and eyed Elena, who blocked his full view, curious to why the air in the room had turned so rapidly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," nodded Clark but Elena saw that the exposure to Lana's necklace was making him sick. "That's a cool box."

She turned to Lex and took the box he offered, closing it for good as she asked, "What is it made of?"

"Lead," Lex answered and gave Elena a little more time to look at it before she handed it back, and he continued. "My mother bought it in a Kasbah in Morocco. A little guy told her it was made from the armor of St. George, the patron saint of boy scouts." He looked down at the box with a small smile. "She gave it to me before she died. I think she was trying to send me a message," he finished, extending his arm to Clark, the lead box in his hand.

Clark glanced at Elena at his side, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked at the box the same way she had looked at the alien encrypted disc that night on their way to the cemetery. She didn't know what to make of it, either, he realized and smiled kindly back at Lex, "I can't take that."

"What is it about Kents and gifts? It's yours." Lex stepped closer to Clark and insisted. "Hand it to Lana. Tell her what happened. Trust me, once she opens it, you'll win her heart. That necklace gives you the power. All you've got to do is use it."

Once Clark took the box and Lex left the room, Elena met Clark's curious expression and breathed out, "Don't you dare open it."

"I know." Clark weighed the gift in his hand and nodded. "I'm fine, really," he smiled softly at her and she finally loosened her taut expression, relieved.

"Come on," she grabbed his truck's keys and tossed them to him with a smirk, "you're driving."

Clark snatched the keys in the air and raised an eyebrow at her, "Wait, I thought you were my loyal war horse?"

"Shut up," she laughed, sure of a sexual innuendo hidden in there somewhere and not wanting to think about it any further.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! As always reviews are always appreciated and encouraged, and thank you so much to those who read/favorited/followed this story!**

 **I wish you all lovelies have a good day/night! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

_"Metamorphosis"_

 _Part Two_

* * *

The following day after school, Elena skipped her bus stop after seeing her mother's car at home. While her dad hadn't paid much attention to her bruised wrists and ankles, Magdalena surely would, and she didn't want to deal with her today.

Instead, Elena sat on the red couch in Clark's hayloft, legs spread out straight in front of her while she worked on Greg's articles she had taken over.

"Oh, hey," a small voice made Elena pull her head out of the books and she sat up to face Lana.

Both girls looked at each other in surprise, remembering the days when they didn't even need words to know that the other stood in the same room. Finally, Elena stood up and spoke, "Hey, Lana… What are you doing here?"

"Mrs. Kent said I could wait up here. I wanted to talk to Clark," she said and continued to look around the hayloft.

 _Clark?_ Elena found it odd but, wanting to get out of the awkward situation, she nodded, "Oh, well, I'll tell him you're here to see him."

"No," Lana stepped closer and held up her hand to stop Elena, "I, uh, I actually need to talk to you, too."

At this, Elena raised her eyebrows and shook her head at Lana, "What is there to talk about?"

Lana let out a small breath and glanced down nervously at her feet, "I know we're not as close as we used to be, if at all." She looked up with a sincere smile as she told her, "But I still consider you my friend, Elena. And I wanted to apologize for what Whitney did to you and Clark."

"He told you?" she asked in disbelief.

"No," Lana shook her head. "Lex Luthor came by the horse stables earlier and alluded to it. I didn't want to believe him, but after Whitney mysteriously lost my necklace, and the bruises on your wrists, I now have no doubts."

"That's nice of you," Elena nodded, turned to grab her off-shoulder, long-sleeve shirt she had taken off because it was too hot, and put it back on over her tank top.

Lana didn't miss the tone of sarcasm in her voice, so she added, "I'm not defending him. What he did was wrong; you could've died out there. I just wanted to see if Clark and you were okay. I'm really sorry."

Elena shrugged, her words earnest, although she couldn't help but still feel a spark of anger she managed to keep contained, "Don't worry about it, Lana, the damage is done. Honestly, you're not even the one who should be apologizing, but thank you."

"I'm glad to see you're okay," Lana smiled.

Elena smiled back and, for a moment, the two were back in second grade, getting called out by the teacher for giggling and passing notes in class, before Clark came up the stairs.

"Lana," he let out in surprise while he stared between the two girls.

"Hi, Clark," the dark-haired girl smiled.

"Looks like I don't have to walk around the farm searching for you anymore," Elena told Clark, relieved. "I'll leave you two alone." She picked up her notebook and books and said goodbye to Lana, taking her research work to the Kents' living room.

* * *

The Kents' home always embraced Elena with a serenity she was grateful for whenever her troubled thoughts and tired mind seemed to weigh her down. Tonight, especially, with her mother back, and the several articles missing for the Environmental Science column she needed to write, Elena needed the calm focus that sitting at the kitchen table, watching Martha cook dinner while she worked on school work, brought to her.

"Elena," she raised her head and looked at Martha. The woman stopped shortly to check the chicken in the oven and asked her, "would you tell Clark and Jonathan dinner's almost ready?"

"On my way," the girl dropped her pencil and smiled, making her way out the door.

She found Jonathan and Clark working in the barn. While Clark stacked haystacks his dad repaired the blades on their mower.

"Dinner's almost ready," Elena announced and she looked down where Jonathan crouched next to his rusty toolbox. "Need another hand?"

"Best idea I've heard all night," he smiled and slid in another large blade.

Only two blades left to install, Elena picked one up as Jonathan warned her, "Careful, there." She nodded but had no trouble in handling the sharp blade, not when she trained with deadlier weapons.

Clark stopped his working up on the loft, a rustling noise coming from the rafters above, and he slowly turned to the ceiling. The shadows hid whatever snuck up there, but a closer look and he made out a human shape before someone jumped out at him from the dark. Startled, Clark caught only a flash of a familiar face and threw his attacker off him.

From below, Elena saw as a blurry figure flew into the darkness again.

"Clark?" Jonathan heard it, too, and they rushed up the stairs to his son. "Hey, Clark. What happened? Are you alright?"

"There's someone in the rafters," Clark said quietly. He handed Elena a flashlight as his dad and him pulled out their own, shining their lights upwards.

Elena walked around and stopped to flash her light on the rafters. Her eyes widened when Greg Arkin's dark and crazed eyes stared back at her before he lunged at her from the ceiling.

"Elena!" Clark dropped his flashlight and sped over to her, the wooden railing behind her breaking with her fall. He jumped over the loft's railing and ran across the bottom floor just in time to get between Elena's falling body and the sharp blades of the mower under her.

Expecting the mower's blades to cut into her back, Elena shut tight her eyes, but only grunted when she fell hard against Clark's chest.

The raven-head boy didn't even flinch as the blades bent under him with the impact. He wrapped his arms around Elena's waist as her body went limp on top of his, and she reached down to grab his hands while she steadied her fast breathing.

"Elena! Clark!" Jonathan ran down and stopped, both teenagers looked shaken but otherwise safe. To Elena, he stretched out his arm and she held on to his hand as she got up from Clark's torso.

"Thank you," she told him before turning around to face Clark, who pulled his body away from the crushed mower underneath him.

"What in the hell just happened?" Jonathan voiced everyone's question as they looked between the broken railing and the bent blades of the mower.

* * *

Jonathan stood protectively next to Elena and Clark while Martha took a good look around the barn. Whoever had broken in was already gone after throwing Elena off the loft, Jonathan and the kids reassured her, but one could never be too careful.

"I never saw anybody move like that," Jonathan recalled, having watched the intruder jump back into the shadows and out the barn in a blink of an eye.

"Did you get a look at his face?" The redhead woman asked Elena specifically.

"I think it was Greg Arkin," she nodded but then shook her head in addition, "but, I don't know, he- he seemed different. It was if he-"

"Wasn't entirely human?" Clark finished for her and she nodded once more. He looked over at his parents,"I saw his face, too."

Martha stared back in surprise. "That's a name I haven't heard in a long time. You and Pete used to hang out with him in grade school," she said to Clark.

"Why would he want to hurt you and Elena?" his dad asked.

"I don't think it was me he wanted to hurt," Elena thought aloud. She looked down at the flashlight in her hand and turned it off, remembering, "When I saw him, he looked frightened. He kind of jumped like a bug crawling back into the dark after the lights turned on." She paused and turned to Clark, "But he did go after you first."

"I don't know," Clark sighed, finding no better answer to Jonathan's question.

"Are you still friends?" questioned Martha.

He shrugged in response, "I pass him in the halls, but people change."

"I remember his mother used to keep him on a short leash, but I can't believe he'd hurt a fly."

"Maybe that's because he was too busy collecting them and every other bug he could get his hands on," Clark deadpanned and while his mother seemed hesitant she had to agree.

"Clark, kids just don't leap off the ceiling and attack people," Jonathan shot his gaze up at the ceiling and remarked.

In return, Clark pointed his flashlight at the green slime in the shape of human footprints on the ceiling. "How do you explain that?"

His parents and Elena stared at the gooey substance at a loss of words, until the man couldn't think of anything but, "I don't know. Seems kind of out there."

Martha chuckled at his response and raised an eyebrow at him, "This coming from the man who's been hiding a spaceship in his storm cellar for the last 12 years."

Elena held back a laugh and simply smiled before following Clark's mom to their house.

* * *

Elena couldn't stay around for dinner, so Martha sent her home with a plate of food when she figured her mother must be worried she hadn't been home all afternoon. The truth was Elena cut herself on the side of her stomach when she fell from the hayloft in the barn. She didn't say anything, not wanting to show the small scars she bore from training with her mother, and left before they noticed her bleeding.

She rested her bike against the Sycamore tree in front of the house and retrieved the dinner plate from its basket, walking up the stairs of her porch.

The living room and kitchen were lit when she stepped inside and closed the door, not bothering to be silent as she knew there was no way she could hide from her mother.

"Is that you Elena?" Magdalena called out from the kitchen almost immediately.

Elena glanced down at the darkened with blood spot on her gray shirt and sighed, answering, "Yeah, it's me."

"We have time for an hour of training, if you're up for it."

"I can't tonight." She heard her footsteps coming to the living room and Elena prepared herself for her mother's anger.

"What the hell happened to you?" Magdalena stared at the blood on her daughter's shirt as she entered the room.

"I cut myself with a piece of wood in the Kents' barn, but it's nothing." She pushed her backpack onto her back as she picked up her dinner from the coffee table, careful not to wince in front of her. "I need to go change and clean myself up."

"No, you're not going anywhere," her mother stopped her, saying sternly. "If you want to get out of this unscathed, you'll sit your ass down and explain to me why you're really coming home with cuts on your stomach and bruises on your wrists, Elena."

Having no other option, she set the plate back down and threw off her backpack on the floor as she took a seat on the couch. Elena didn't even know why she was so surprised, having told herself all afternoon that the moment her mother set eyes on her she would notice. Part of her just hoped she wouldn't, it always did, but to no avail.

While her mother cleaned the cut on her side and patched it up, Elena told her enough about Clark and her being chosen as this year's Scarecrows to appease her concerns.

After a moment of silence, she looked at Elena and gave her a nod, "I can teach you to fight, Madgalena, but I cannot tell you in which ways to use that knowledge when you're in the heat of it all. I can only advise you to fight with a passionate heart, yes, but make sure to keep a clear mind."

"Cool, focused, and collected." Elena knew that, but when she had seen Clark get hurt she had been anything but that.

"Try to always remember that," her mother said before she stood up and went to bed.

"That wasn't so bad," Elena breathed out, putting on a clean shirt and finally got to eat her dinner.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! As always reviews are always appreciated and encouraged, and thank you so much to those who read/favorited/followed this story!**

 **I wish you all lovelies have a good day/night! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

_"Metamorphosis"_  
Part Three

* * *

The following morning, Elena didn't even get the chance to see Clark and talk about Greg attacking them last night. She barely told her mother goodbye, as she got on her bike and left for school extra early.

Principal Kwan arrived at the same time as her, so getting inside the building wasn't a problem. Not that she couldn't make her way in anyway, but it took away the hassle of breaking in.

"You are an odd one, Elena," he chuckled as she helped him open the large double doors of the main entrance.

James Kwan was a man of serious disposition and his reputation of a no-nonsense, stern high school principal followed him true. In his many years working, it was unusual for him to deviate from his professionalism and dare to goof around with anyone, including the staff and faculty. But with the many times Elena Castro had paid a visit to his office, in the short amount of time since the school year started, the two knew enough of each other to have broken the ice already.

Elena latched the right door open against the school window and smugly said, "Just following your orders, _Jefe_ ; I'm here, bright and early as you wanted."

However, he couldn't help but wonder at the obvious mystery surrounding the young girl's life.

He remembered the first time she had come in his office for picking a fight with one of the senior football players. When her parents failed to be contacted and he reviewed her previous bad conduct scores, he had marked Elena Castro down as another kid with abandonment and anger issues that would end up in juvenile prison sooner or later. In time, she had proved him wrong however, and it had been a shameful mistake on his part to think the worst of her.

He walked with her down the empty hallway and nodded his head, correct, "As it should always be. The early bird gets the worm, you know."

"Yeah, but the second mouse gets the cheese, Principal Kwan," Elena smirked up at him and he gave her his Peevish Principal glare. Before he got a chance to rebuke her, she ran down another hallway to the Darkroom.

Elena Castro might be a headstrong and troublesome teenager, like most, but she was an exemplary student. She disobeyed the rules, but knew perfectly well when to follow them. She fought and had problems with others, but she was kind enough to offer herself as a tour guide to the new freshmen and helped tutor her peers. She had many layers despite her young age and he found her unpredictability intriguing.

"Do not let me see you in my office, Ms. Castro!" He couldn't do anything but warn, finally stopping in front of his office.

* * *

By the time she finished developing the photographs for her partner in Photography class, Brendan Nash, Chloe and Clark entered the Darkroom searching for her.

"Here you are," Chloe smiled when Elena turned around to face them.

"I was just on my way to the Torch." She picked up her belongings and handed Chloe the folder with all missing articles for the science column. "What's going on?" she asked when the pair exchanged looks.

Chloe held up the articles that were supposed to be Greg Arkin's, but he hadn't shown his face around the Torch for a week, "Clark told me about Greg jumping out from his barn's ceiling and leaving green goo behind."

"We think he might be Wall of Weird material," Clark added, shooting a glance at the collaged wall behind her.

"Okay," Elena nodded, having thought about it too, "let's do some research."

* * *

Several minutes later, the trio were hauled up in the Torch office as they searched for any information on their newest 'Weird Case.'

Chloe stood up from her desk and retrieved an article from the printer, saying to Clark and Elena, "I found an article about Amazonian tribesmen who took on the traits of the insects they'd been bitten by, but nothing as extreme as what you're talking about. Did you have any luck?"

Clark leaned back in his chair and shrugged his shoulders at the bit of information he found, which he didn't believe was of much use. "Only that Greg didn't move to Smallville until after the meteor shower, so he couldn't have been exposed to the blast."

Elena turned in her chair to look at him. She felt good to have shared this thing, that had been only between Chloe and her, with him now. At least she didn't have to keep this secret from him anymore, she realized while Chloe thought about something else.

"Yeah, but his bugs could have been." The blonde stood between their desks and looked down at them with excitement. "Think about it, guys: pieces of that meteor are still buried all over Smallville. The whole habitat's infected. So when Boy catches Bugs and Bugs bite Boy, you end up with…"

"Bugboy," Elena concluded with a nod. At her raised hand, Chloe agreed with the given name and high-fived her.

Clark held back a smile as he poked a hole in their theory, "Look, you can't even walk out your door in the summertime without being bitten by a mosquito. Why don't we have a whole town of bug people?"

Elena returned to her computer screen and skimmed through pieces of information, answering, "Those Amazonian tribesmen Chloe's talking about were all attacked by swarms." She turned in her chair again and told them, "With that large level of toxins a mutation is sure to be caused."

"Greg did keep tanks of bugs in his room," he remembered. "Maybe they got sick of the view and staged a revolt."

While Clark slowly came to terms with their theory, Chloe backed into her computer and searched up another question. "Well, according to this," she stepped away from her desk and allowed Elena and Clark to see for themselves, "bugs have a very short life cycle. So if he really has gone Kafka, let's hope he isn't in the mating phase."

* * *

Clark, Chloe, Pete, and Elena stood on the Arkins' front porch. Pete looked through a window of the lonely home.

Chloe peeped through the other window, ""It doesn't look like anyone's home."

"The place is a mess." Pete shook his head and looked back to Clark, "Remember what a neat freak Greg's mom was?"

"Yeah," Clark nodded, "she used to make us take off our shoes. One time I forgot and she yelled at me."

"Is that what broke up the friendship?" Chloe joked.

"After 7th grade, Greg's parents got divorced and he just stopped calling after that."

"Which sucked because he had a killer tree fort his dad built in the woods," Pete told the girls, but Chloe was the only one really paying attention as Elena still looked around the house.

Clark stood up straight from where he leaned against a post, indifferent, "It was okay."

"Clark never liked it," Pete smirked, clarifying. "He used to get dizzy just walking over there."

"How come?" Chloe smiled, amused.

"He was afraid of heights."

Clark turned around and faced them, "I didn't believe it was structurally sound."

While her friends joked around, Elena had unlocked a window from the outside with one of her knives. "Guys," she called out and, as they all turned their attention to her, she slid up the opened window, "looks like I found a way in."

* * *

From outside they could see that the house was a mess, but now that they searched the rooms and smelled the stench in the air, the foursome knew something bad had happened.

Elena came in the bathroom where Pete and Clark looked around, and took a couple pictures of the bits of slimy pink stuff all over the shower.

"Oh man," Pete scrunched up his nose at the sight, "that's disgusting. What is it?"

Elena bent down and closed in on the slimy bits around the drain, realizing, "'The hell? This is _skin_."

"He must be molting," Clark breathed out, running a hand through his hair while everything about this situation made his skin crawl.

From Greg's room, Chloe shouted for them, "You guys better come in here!"

Giant spider webs covered the entirety of the bedroom, Elena and the guys needing to work their way to Chloe, who stood concerned in front of a small TV.

"Oh man," Pete sighed again as they all watched a videotape recording of Lana enjoying some alone time while she studied under the cool shade of a tree. "Looks like you're not the only one in Smallville with the hots for Lana," he looked back at a wide-eyed Clark.

"I think Greg's found his mate," Chloe worried.

"No surprise there," Elena muttered as she checked the thickest spider webs.

"Elena, be careful," Clark stepped closer to the brunette at the opposite corner of the room.

"I don't like this," said Chloe and they watched Elena touch the webs.

When nothing jumped out at her, she lunged her fingers in and pulled them apart. "Holy shit," she breathed as she made out a shriveled human face.

"What is it?" Pete came closer, but the three of them jumped away at the horror of Greg's mother falling out of the spider webs.

Being the only one not all that shocked from the body hitting the floor, Elena squatted down and pressed two fingers on the woman's cold neck. "She's definitely dead," she looked up at her friends.

While they all shared terrified expressions, Clark's eyes filled with panic when he realized the danger Lana could be in.

"Lana!" he gasped and without a second's thought, rushed out of the house.

"We should probably call the police," Pete looked between Ms. Arkin's dead body on the floor of her son's bedroom and Chloe and Elena.

Elena nodded her head in agreement before handing her camera over to Chloe. Camera in hand, the short-haired girl shot her a confused look, and Elena explained, "I think I know where Greg took Lana."

* * *

Memory served her right and she was able to locate Lana, as Elena remembered she had once been at Greg's treehouse.

She had been six years old, looking for Clark one late evening, and found him hanging out with Pete and Greg in the Arkin boy's treehouse. When Greg mocked her from above and told her she couldn't join them because girls weren't allowed in his treehouse, she grew angry and left only to return a couple minutes later. From the foundry nearby, Elena had gotten an axe and used it to chop down the treehouse's ladder. They hadn't let her up, so she had taken their safe way down.

Even at a young age, she had been a force to be reckoned with. But that didn't get her out of trouble with her dad (Magdalena had just laughed at Elena's audacity, agreeing that the boys had it coming). She had spent the next Saturday helping her dad build a new ladder to replace the one she axed.

To say the least, she hadn't been allowed on the Arkins' property without an adult anymore. But seeing as Greg killed his mom, kidnapped Lana, and Clark had gone after him, she trespassing was a desperate measure called in a desperate time.

Taking a breath from her run, she saw Lana lying unconscious, but otherwise safe, inside the treehouse from the massive hole in one of its walls.

Broken planks of wood were scattered in pieces on the grass and she realized Clark and Greg were not far away, following their tracks to the Foundry.

* * *

"Clark? Clark?" Elena's shouts echoed throughout the abandoned metal workshop.

"Hello, Elena." She whipped back and saw Greg smirking down at her from one of the building's rafters.

"Where the hell's Clark, Greg?" she growled and tightened the grip on her throwing knife when he jumped down in front of her.

The boy eyed her weapon and chuckled, "If you didn't scare me so much, I would've mated with you, you know."

Elena stepped back and wrinkled her nose in disgust, "I'd rather die."

"Don't worry, you will," he said before using his super speed, and grabbed the knife from her hands.

Greg might've flung her knife feet across the old workshop but she didn't need it to throw a punch at his face.

"Ah!" His neck cracked and he turned away to spit out some blood. "Bitch!" he yelled and hit her back with his super strength.

Greg's blow sent her flying across the building, where she fell on a few misplaced stacks of hay that helped softened her landing.

She rubbed the back of her head, whiplashed, and looked at the green rock around her before she saw Clark on her right, hiding behind a scrap of lead twice his size.

"Elena," he worried and tried getting to her, but as soon as he stepped away from the large piece of metal the green meteor rock affected him.

"No, I'm okay. Stay there," she whispered, seeing him hurt, and got up before Greg found him. The crawling of insects sounded as she searched for the Bugboy. Some blood trailed down her forehead and she forced the itch to beat him to a pulp away, calling out instead, "Listen to me, Greg, you don't want to do this."

"Yes, I do." The teenager snuck from behind and tackled her down. "All my life I have been living under rules, but now I'm free. I have no rules, Elena. I can do anything I want."

She strained her face away from his hot breath and, although she could've easily kneed him in the crotch, she remained held down. Like her mother had said, winning was more than knowing how to fight back. It was also knowing _when_. And with Clark peeking at them from just a couple feet away, she knew now wasn't the time to get all ninja on Greg.

"I get it, fighting against your instincts, it's a hard thing to do," she looked up at him instead. "But there comes a point where you need to set boundaries."

"Boundaries are overrated." He pressed himself closer to her, suggestively.

Clark grew angry at seeing him ogle Elena, and he was able to run a few steps before the meteor rock weakened him.

However, Bugboy was too caught up in his head to notice Clark trying to stop him from hurting Elena, but she did. Shooting Clark a look, Elena gave her head a small shake that he understood it meant for him to go back.

"Use your head, man," she turned to Greg again. She ignored the uncomfortable feeling of him on top of her, but couldn't contain her anger anymore. "Your mother is dead because of you!" He flinched at her words. "Lana is wrapped up in spiderwebs, and you're trying to kill your friends!" Elena held back her anger, feeling his body retreat, but she kept her voice strong in hopes to finally get him to see reason. "You have to stop following your instincts, Greg. You have to _make some rules_."

"Make some rules," he repeated after five seconds of silence.

"Right," she breathed out.

Greg took her advice and pulled away as his body morphed into dozens of insects that crawled out of the building in a hurry.

Elena stood up, shuddering, and ran over to Clark. "I'm never seeing bugs the same way again," she said as he grabbed her hand.

"Me neither," he pushed himself up from the ground and was grateful for Elena's help in getting them out of the meteor rock-infected workshop.

* * *

By the time they reached the treehouse, Whitney had come to Lana's rescue. The couple walked down the dirt road to Whitney's truck, hands linked and smiling, while Clark watched crestfallen from a distance.

At his side, Elena shrugged, "You win some, you lose some."

"Yeah," he sighed, still disheartened, and was forced to look at Elena as she now stood in front of him.

"Hey," she tried again, "she'll come around and see who the real hero is. She'd be a fool not to."

"Thanks, Elena." Clark smiled.

* * *

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 **Guest:** Thank you for your review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, too! :)

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 **January Lily:** Thank you so much for your reviews and giving this story a read! Your kind words definitely brought a smile to my face and gave me that extra push of motivation to continue with this fic! :)

 **Guest:** AH thank you so much! Sorry this chapter took so long to be out, but I'm very happy to see that you liked this story! :)

 **HPuni10:** Thank you for your review! And yes, Elena does know about Clark's powers (she's knows for quite a while lol). Sorry this chapter is very late I know, but rest assure that I plan to continue with this story no matter what, so I hope you stick by and continue reading it! :)

 **scripturient3201:** Thank you so much for the review! I really appreciate you thinking Elena fits well in the Smallville universe lol I feel a little more confident with my writing because of it so thanks! :)

 **A/N: Like always, for those who read, added this fic to their favorites/alerts, I thank you as well! I know I've been away for about a year now if not longer, but now that I found my way back into writing I do have the next two chapters of Between Shadows all written out yay! So be on the look out for another couple of chapters in the next few weeks. Other than this, I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and any constructive criticism you may have. Reviews are always good for a boost of writing motivation and do encourage me to update faster, so don't be afraid to leave even the simplest of words in the review box! :D**

 **Thank you so much for reading, I wish you all lovelies a good day/night!**


	8. Chapter 8

_"Hothead"_  
Part One

* * *

It took about a week for things to go back to normal- as normal as things could get for Elena, anyway- since Homecoming.

Clark was back to hiding his super-powers, Pete remained secretly crushing over Chloe, and Chloe and her had already published the newest article about last night's football game.

"'Football: Sport or Abuse?'" Clark read the headline as they all walked up the bleachers' stairs.

"So, what do you think?" After taking a sip of her coffee, Chloe looked up at Clark and searched for a reaction.

"I think you need to seriously decrease your cappuccino dependency," Clark finally said, folding the school's newspaper in his hands.

While Pete agreed with a laugh, Elena pulled Chloe closer to her so the two walked in front of them.

"Look," Elena said loud enough so Clark heard her from behind, "we know Pete thinks we're being too hard on Coach Walt, but seriously, who cares? The article's a hit!"

"The man coached my dad, all my brothers. He used to come over and watch the Super Bowl," Pete told them as they reached the school's back entrance. It was true that Coach Walt often got angry on the field, but it was because he was passionate about the sport just like any fan. Pete didn't think his coach to be the type of man to go against the rules.

"Now, while I'm touched by that Hallmark moment, you don't get points for subtlety in journalism," Chloe sided with Elena, stopping to smile proudly at the trio. "I've already started getting hate mail."

Clark stood confused in the middle of the busy courtyard and asked Elena, "Wait, I thought you said it was a hit?" He then turned to Chloe, "Why are you getting hate mail, and why are you happy about that?"

"Yeah, the hate mail means it's a real hit on people's nerves," the brunette shared Chloe's smile.

The blonde reporter nodded, "Which is exactly what we want. Besides," she shrugged, and the foursome continued to walk before they got trampled by the bunch of cheerleaders and their pompoms, "between the abysmal sentence structure and generous use of obscenities, I've got a pretty good idea of who's been sending it."

Pete held up his hand and rested it on her shoulder, joking, "If you think my teammates are reading the Torch, you're giving them way too much credit."

Elena's smile turned into one of amusement as Chloe, too, smiled at Pete and shrugged him off.

The quartet kept walking and stopped just outside the school's double doors, their attention on the arguing cheerleader and jock couple.

Even from a distance, Lana's dismay towards Whitney's dismissive attitude was heard, "Don't you even care about this?"

The blonde football player gave her a sloppy grin and shrugged, "I don't see what the big deal is."

Lana held onto her pompoms, Elena not doubting that the small raven-head girl pushed back the urge to throw them on Whitney's face as she continued with an incredulous look, "You don't think it's a big deal? I think it's a big deal!"

Whitney took a step back avoiding his girlfriend as she stormed off. Elena and her friends watched her go inside the school building, not ever seeing sweet and caring Lana so fired up and especially with Whitney.

"Whoo!" Chloe finally let out. "There's something you don't see everyday." She looked back at her surprised friends with a laugh, "A pompom meltdown!"

"She should've smacked that douche smirk from his face with one of them," Elena gave her two-cents, seeing Whitney join the rest of his team unbothered. Pete and Chloe agreed with their laughs, while Clark shook his head at her but couldn't help a smile.

"Ooh, ooh, here they come!" Chloe reached for Elena as the line of football players, led by Coach Walt, came their way. "Elena, I need a picture of the cheating jockstrap."

"Already on it, Chief," Elena nodded at Chloe, camera angled for a clear picture of the team gathered around the courtyard as the coach warned them about hearing rumors and false accusations.

"Any idea how they got that midterm, Chloe?" inquired Clark.

She shook her head, "It's still a mystery, but Elena and I are working on it."

From her camera lens, Elena noticed one of the football players tense up as he caught her snapping photos of them.

The senior turned to her and aimed his football at her head. A blur of brown spiraled in the air and, just as Elena swiftly sidestepped to the left, Clark reached out to stop the football with his hand thanks to his super-reflexes. They both looked at each other, Clark realizing that Elena also had some quick reflexes. Although those couldn't be because of alien DNA, like him.

Before he pondered on it further, Pete patted him on the back while grinning, "Oooh, nice catch!"

"One of your teammates attempts to assassinate Elena, and all you say is 'nice catch'?" Chloe looked at Pete in disbelief.

"I thought you guys wanted to hit a nerve?" He smiled.

"It's okay, Chloe," Elena nodded at the blonde and added, "besides, for someone to be a successful assassin they must at least be stealthy. Pete's teammate was anything but; I saw that football coming from miles away."

Chloe agreed and Elena's words helped cleared out Clark's question as Pete and Chloe walked inside the school building. Elena started following the pair but she turned around and stopped when Clark lagged behind.

She saw him stare angrily at the laughing football player and his teammates, before he threw the football back with a doubling force.

"Whoa, Band-Aids!" Elena let out in surprise but grinned when the ball hit the jock hard in his stomach.

"Stealthy or not, he still tried to hurt you," Clark explained as they both made their way to class.

* * *

Elena hurried over to the vending machine as the lunch bell rang, before a line of hungry high schoolers formed.

Snacking on a bag of Cracker Jack popcorn, she turned the corner to find Clark and Pete out in the hallway.

"Elena!" Both boys smiled, although they wondered why she was heading the opposite direction of the cafeteria.

"Hey," she offered her caramel popcorn to them. Clark and Pete took a few as she told them, "don't wait up for Chloe and me. We're using our lunchtime to work on the next Torch issue."

Pete munched away his popcorn and asked, "You're not still trying to figure out how the team got the answers to the midterm, are you?"

"Now that it's out that the football team cheated, it's our job to let the people know how."

"Yeah, but I'm part of the football team. What if they think I'm the one who ratted them out?" Pete tried to make his point.

Elena shook her head and gulped down her popcorn. "No one is going to point fingers at you, Military. And if they do, I'll break their hands," she joked but meant the promise.

"Hey, Kent!" Coach Walt rounded the corner where the three of them stood and directed at Clark, who turned around in surprise. "I saw your arm out there. Technique was lousy, but you got a lot of power."

While Pete and Elena wondered what was going on, Clark smiled at the old man, "Thanks!"

"So why aren't you on our team?" the coach asked.

"My dad needs me on the farm," Clark answered simply.

"Well, your school needs you on the field!" Coach Walt countered. "We got a big game on Friday night. We're short players-," he held up a hand as to not trouble Clark, "Look, look, I know your dad would understand."

"He's kind of stubborn," he told the coach, but Elena saw his hidden desire to join the football team.

Coach Walt nodded, telling, "Yeah, I remember. Jonathan Kent was one of the best athletes I ever coached. A lot of God-given talent. It's in your genes, Kent."

"Actually, I'm adopted," Clark smiled cheekily as Elena and Pete tried holding back a laugh behind him.

The man gritted his teeth at his mistake and sighed out his growing frustration. "Look, I am giving you a chance to be a part of something special, a part of history. Now, I've seen you stare at your father's picture in that trophy case." The group turned their heads to look at the large array of trophies and medals locked in a glass display. "Don't tell me you don't want to be a part of this," Coach Walt grabbed Clark's attention. "Why don't you suit up? Look at Ross here. He doesn't have a lick of natural talent, but he's got a truckload of heart."

"Thanks…" Pete added, not sure how to feel about his coach's words, "I guess."

Clark hesitated, if not for his dad, and nodded, "Let me think about it."

Just as he said this, Whitney and Lana walked down the hallway, the coach shouting, "Fordman, get over here!"

Elena stood with Clark and Pete, suppressing a groan at the sight of Whitney.

"Hi, Elena." Lana smiled sweetly in her cheerleader outfit. "Hi, Clark."

"Hey," Elena smiled, a little awkward, but not as much as Clark, who tried to remain cool in front of Whitney.

Luckily, Coach Walt spoke up before the situation turned embarrassing. "Fordman, you're the team captain. How do you think Kent here would do on the field? I mean, considering our current predicament?"

Whitney gave Clark a once-over, his hand still wrapped around Lana's shoulders, indifferent, "He might do alright."

"Hmm…" The old man looked at Clark, and Elena didn't like it one bit as he added, "He seems afraid though."

Elena narrowed her eyes at the coach. This wasn't about offering Clark a spot on the team anymore. This was Whitney and Coach Walt cornering her friend, and she wasn't going to stand and watch it happen.

Elena opened her mouth but Lana beat her with a surprising defensive tone, "That's not the reason, is it, Clark?"

"It's my Dad," he answered, rather sheepish.

"Kent," Coach Walt said sternly as he walked up to his face, "there comes a time when you gotta step out of your father's shadow and be your own man. Now what do you say? You ready to be your own man?"

Clark couldn't look at Elena, who he knew held a look of disapproval on her face, so he looked at Lana. Her green eyes looked up at him expectantly and he finally smiled at Coach Walt, "Count me in."

Yet he missed as Lana rolled her eyes and sighed, sharing the same disappointment with Elena, while the coach grinned, "Good. I will see you at practice tomorrow, three o'clock. Don't be late."

After the coach and the couple walked away, Pete held up a finger to his ear and looked at his friend, "Hey, Clark . Hey, um, remind me what your dad said last time you asked him to play?"

Clark dropped his smile as he remembered, "He said no."

"He said no," Pete repeated blandly. "That's what I thought. Call me when the hurting's done. Okay?" He reached up to pat Clark's shoulder before walking to the cafeteria.

Clark finally turned to Elena, worried, "I did the wrong thing, didn't I?"

Elena sighed, knowing how much Clark dreamed of being on Smallville's football team, and her eyes softened. "Wanting to join the football team is not a bad thing, but I think joining it for the wrong reasons is. That 'be your own man' speech? Total crap."

Clark nodded, relieved to hear Elena was on his side (sort of), but his dad's approval was still a problem.

* * *

The following day, Elena walked down to the front row of bleachers, surprised to see Jonathan there as the team made their way to the field.

"Mr. Kent," she took a seat next to him and smiled, "you decided to show some support?"

He glanced down at his hands and locked them together, wishing he could, but his opinion on the matter stood firm. "Like I said to Clark," he looked up at Elena, "I'm here to see that no one gets hurt."

 _Ouch._ She kept her thoughts to herself and returned her eyes to the grass field, where Pete played in a yellow '39' shirt and Clark in a red '89' one.

The team ran a play, Whitney passing the ball to Clark as tailback. Clark easily caught it but his mind was clearly elsewhere, as he let the opposing team tackle him without problem.

"Oh, Band-Aids," Elena breathed out, pained to see Clark hurt. Not by the team's attacks, but by his father's words.

"Kent! Quit lookin' in the stands!" Coach Walt shouted loud enough for Jonathan and Elena to hear. The enraged man yanked Clark to his feet by his faceguard. "Your dad's not coachin' this team, I am! Now I didn't bring you out here to be a tackling dummy!" Before he let him be, he pounded Clark's chest, "Get angry! Kick some butt!"

Clark fixed his uniform and the teams lined up.

"I understand, Mr. Kent, that you're worried about his safety and the others," Elena said, not able to keep her mouth shut, and faced him. "But don't you trust Clark? I mean, it's just football."

They both turned and watched Clark use his powers as he breezed through the players and reached the end zone.

Disappointed, Jonathan stood up to leave and looked down at Elena, "We both know it's more than that."

Elena sighed as she saw Mr. Kent's point. "All the wrong reasons," she muttered and shook her head at a discouraged Clark on the field.

* * *

After football tryouts, Elena finished up her English paper in the library.

"Ms. Castro," Principal Kwan noticed her walking out of school from his car. "What are you doing out so late?"

"Research," Elena said with a smile as she walked up to him. "You know me, _Jefe_ ," she smirked, "always the studious kind."

"I hope it's not for the Torch. The newspaper has stirred up a lot of controversy as of late. I don't know whether to put a stop to it or congratulate both Ms. Sullivan and you?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Kwan, it was for English class." She gave him a cheeky smile, figuring it didn't hurt to try as she added, "But to appease your mind, option B will do the trick for us; preferably in the form of free tardy-excuse slips."

At last, she managed a small smile out of him. "Nice try," he told her, "but seeing as it's late and, while I know you can fend for yourself, I rather not tempt fate, so how about a free ride home instead?"

"I'll take what I can get," Elena nodded and took the backseat of his car.

Principal Kwan closed the door to his driver's seat and not a moment later after he turned on the vehicle's ignition did flames consume the inside of the car.

"What the hell?" The man grew frantic at the fire starting to burn his clothes, and, if Elena hadn't been preoccupied with finding a way to put out the fire, she would've replied with a smart ass comment for his swearing. "What the hell!" He exclaimed, scared of the sudden fire now burning his feet and filling his lungs with smoke. "Elena? Elena, are you-"

"I'm okay, _Jefe_ ," Elena said and covered her face with her jacket. "Here! Here!" She found a rag on the back for him to cover himself as his coughing became uncontrollable.

"St-stay calm, I'll- I'll get us out," Mr. Kwan told her between coughs, failing to notice that he was the one in panic.

Elena tried to open the doors but it was as if the fire knew what she planned to do, and the handles set on fire.

She looked over at Mr. Kwan and found him unconscious in his seat. "Damn it!" She coughed, pulled out the knives in her shoes, and stabbed her window until the glass broke.

If the wave of fresh air wasn't enough, seeing Clark breaking the car door off its hinges and pulling out Principal Kwan brought her an immense relief.

Clark came back for her and rushed them out to safety just in time to save them from the explosion.

"Elena, are you okay?" Clark pushed away strands of her hair from her face as she coughed out and breathed in. "What happened?"

"I'm okay." She nodded, touching his hand and pulling it away from her cheek, but kept a hold of it for a moment longer. "I don't know what happened, but we need to get Principal Kwan to a hospital."

* * *

 **REVIEW RESPONSES**

 **scripturient3201:** Thank you for reviewing again! And omg yes I'm excited to be back too, I have big plans for Clark & Elena so I'm very happy to hear your good opinion on them :)

 **Adela:** Thank you for your review! Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! :)

 **LMarie99:** Thank you for your review! I'm so happy you liked my fic and your excitement to see it continue certainly motivates me to write more. :)

 **A/N: As always, for those who read, added this fic to their favorites/alerts, I thank you as well!**

 **I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and any constructive criticism you may have. Reviews are always great for a boost of writing motivation and do encourage me to update faster, so don't be afraid to leave even the simplest of words in the review box! :D**

 **Thank you so much for reading, I wish you all lovelies a good day/night!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Just a small author's note here before we go back to regular programming: I know this chapter took a bit longer than the previous one even though I had already written it out, but I held on to it a little longer and was able to add more to it so I wouldn't have to break the episode into three parts. Also, I wanted to post a longer chapter in time for my birthday so now that I'm a year older lol here's my gift to you! Hope you enjoy! ^ . ^  
**

* * *

 _"Hothead"_  
Part Two

* * *

After taking a shower at the Kent's house, Elena joined them for dinner since she had refused medical attention when the paramedics arrived at the school's parking lot. She honestly didn't need to go to a hospital, as she didn't suffer any burns or smoke inhalation and felt much better now.

Yet they still worried about her, Jonathan asking her once more at the table, "Are you sure you don't want to see a doctor, Elena?"

"I am, Mr. Kent," she reassured him. "Besides, my parents are out of town and I don't want to worry them if I'm okay, like you shouldn't be. Really."

"All right, I'm convinced," he held up his hands in surrender and put them back down, forking a brussel sprout as he said, "but you're staying the night with us."

Elena couldn't say no to that so she smiled, "Thank you."

"Principal Kwan's gonna be in the hospital till over the weekend." Martha came back from the living room, having talked on the phone with Mr. Kwan's family.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Clark asked from his seat, next to Elena.

"He's got some burns and suffered smoke inhalation, but he's gonna be okay," said Martha from where she stood over Clark's shoulder.

Jonathan looked down at his dinner plate, hiding his concern with an exasperated tone, "Anybody see you, Son?"

Elena glanced at him, surely he didn't mean to sound so cutting.

Martha shifted behind her son, concerned, as Clark turned to his dad in frustration, "Nobody saw me Dad." Jonathan nodded, pleased to hear that. "I told the paramedics that I wrapped my hands in my jacket when I pulled Elena and him out."

Elena nodded at Clark's parents and remained quiet. Although she sat between Mr. Kent and Clark, there was no desire to get in the middle of their conversation. She had already butted in earlier at practice and she didn't want to say something that would make things worse.

"Lucky you were there," Martha directed at Clark, saying something at least they all agreed with.

Clark shot his dad a pointed look, "Well, I kind of missed my ride."

Jonathan looked up at him, scoffing, "Look, I saw you play, all right?" Done with his dinner, he rose from his seat as he continued, "Now, you could have easily hurt any one of those boys."

"But the point is, I didn't." Clark followed him to the kitchen. Mrs. Kent and Elena shared a look before they, too, decided to join them.

Jonathan was prepared to say something but he took a deep breath and sighed, turning away from Clark instead.

"Look, why are we even having this conversation?" Unable to talk to him, Clark turned to his mom, "He's never gonna believe me."

The room grew quiet for a second, so Clark looked at his dad and added in a lighter tone, "By the way, Coach gave me your old 're looking at the starting tailback for this Friday's game."

Seeing his son smiling, Jonathan walked over to him but he couldn't bring himself to congratulate him, not when he felt disappointed, and passed by him to get to the living room.

Clark tried to hide his hurt as he looked between his parents, "Don't everyone congratulate me at once." His saddened eyes landed on Elena, who quietly stood near the kitchen's back door half-hidden in the shadows, and he waved her out with him, "Come on, Elena."

Before she stepped out into the cool night air, Elena gave Martha a sympathetic look, "We'll stay safe, Mrs. Kent."

"Just not too late." The redhead woman smiled and closed the door, watching them go.

* * *

Pete and Chloe joined them for a night out, the small group of friends all walking down Main Street to the coffee shop.

"You guys, it doesn't make sense. Cars don't just spontaneously combust." Chloe raised her hands and mimicked an explosion as she brought them down at her sides again. She shook her head, not being able to wrap her mind around what Clark and Elena had said.

"The cops said it was faulty wiring," Clark explained and that seemed to placate Chloe's curiosity.

The short-haired blonde nodded, grinning at Elena as she told them, "I've already got the headline: 'Jockstrap Saves Principal and Student From Burning Car. '"

"Will you lay off the jockstraps thing?" Pete looked at them joking, slightly annoyed.

"I still can't believe Clark's been blinded by the Friday Night Lights," Chloe admitted.

"You and I both," Elena nodded with a smile.

"I joined the football team, not a cult," Clark was quick to defend, although they didn't see the difference.

"Yeah, next, Elena and I are gonna be joining the pompom brigade," Chloe laughed at the crazy thought while Elena shook her head at the idea.

"I love you, Chloe, but there's no way I'll ever join the cheerleading team," she said as they all entered the Beanery.

"Are you sure?" Walking by and having listened to the brunette, Lana greeted them with a bright smile, "I hear there's a spot open."

"Lana," Clark looked at her in surprise, "what are you doing here?"

"Taking your order, I hope," Lana said and the group took a moment to take in her waitress uniform. Complete with apron and name tag.

"W-what is this?" Chloe motioned to her outfit. "Some sort of cheerleading charity, like ' be a waitress for a night' sort of thing?"

"Yes, it is." Lana grabbed a serving tray and led them to a table, "Except for the cheerleading and charity part. Tips are always appreciated."

When they stopped at an empty table, Clark moved closer to the ex-cheerleader and asked, "So you're a waitress for real?"

"Even got the perky name tag to prove it," she smiled and pointed at it, pinned to her beige apron on her chest.

"First day," Pete understood, stepping aside so she could give out the coffee orders on her tray.

"Ever," she laughed nervously, careful not to spill the hot drinks as she placed them on a customer's table.

Now that she stood in front of Elena, it seemed appropriate that she pointed out what was certainly going through Clark's head as well as hers, "Your necklace?"

Lana glanced down at her chest, reminded that her green meteor rock charm-necklace didn't hang from her neck. Looking back up to Elena, she shrugged, "Strict dress code; no jewelry and no open-toes shoes.

"You look very waitress-like," Clark chimed in with a smile.

"Now, if I could only tell the difference between a half-caf, decaf, and a non-fat latte," Lana trailed off but appreciated his comment.

"In that case, I'll have a regular coffee," Chloe told her as she took off her jacket and pulled out a chair at the table.

"Hey, times three," Pete held up three fingers just to make sure, while Elena simply ordered an ice-cold glass of water.

In a hurry to place their orders she left behind her serving tray, Clark taking it to her instead of taking a seat, "Uh, Lana, you forgot this."

* * *

"Clark Kent is a football player and Lana Lang is a waitress," Chloe said as she turned away from the pair talking at the cash register to Pete and Elena in front of her.

Pete shrugged. "What's the matter with that?"

"Nothing," Chloe admitted with a light tone of sarcasm, "I just wanna click my heels and get back to reality."

"As if this night isn't weird enough…" Elena cocked her head towards Trevor, one of the slightly decent football players, as he anxiously made his way to the team's table at the far corner of the Beanery.

Her friends turned their heads to the group of jocks and she tried to pick up on what he was saying to them, but only heard an urgent, "Coach needs to see us on the field right now."

Elena wasn't the one only who noticed Trevor's odd demeanor, as Chloe looked to Pete questioningly, "What's up with your fallen brethren?"

"I don't know," he shrugged and the three of them watched the group leave in a hurry.

It took Chloe and Elena a shared look to know they were thinking the same thing. Pete raised his eyebrows as the blonde and brunette rose from their seats all of a sudden.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Chloe grabbed her coat at the same as Elena said, "Bye, Pete."

Before he could utter a word the two rushed to the door, Elena stopping for a second when Clark passed with a concerned look on his face.

"It's okay, we'll see you guys later," she nodded and gave him a quick smile as she left, undoubtedly hearing Lana crashing into a customer and dropping her serving tray behind.

* * *

Chloe and Elena followed the football team to the school's field at night, where the guys met up with Coach Walt, and they hid under the bleachers to watch.

If something was to be revealed about how the majority of the team got the answers to the mid-term and cheated, this would be the moment.

Coach Walt paced in front of the lined-up teenagers, clearly displeased about something. Elena wished she could get near enough to hear him. At least Chloe had brought her camera, handing it over to her as she pulled out a notepad and pen from her messenger bag.

Elena zoomed in, Chloe scribbling down notes beside her, and saw who could only be Trevor step up to the coach. Whatever he told him, it infuriated Coach Walt enough for the man to slap him straight across his face.

Chloe held back a gasp, Elena's eyes widening in surprise when the water sprinklers spraying the grass field shot out flames.

All while Coach Walt roared at his team, "Nothing, _nothing_ is gonna stand between me and my legacy! Now, you go home, and you keep your mouths shut! Understand?!"

The group of seven teenagers nodded their heads, scared shitless while the sprinklers burst nothing but fire around the raging coach.

Elena quickly snapped a few photos and grabbed Chloe's arm, "Let's go, before we get sucked into the seventh circle of Hell."

"You got some clear shots?" Chloe asked when they were far away from them and Elena nodded, giving her back the camera so she could see for herself. "Definitely Wall of Weird material," the blonde reporter let out as she clicked through the photos.

"We should tell Clark and Pete," Elena said as they stepped out of the school property.

Chloe shot her a look, "You are kidding, right? Even with these photos, they're not going to believe us."

Unfortunately, she was right. It was bad enough that Pete held a big respect for Coach Walt, and with Clark's dream finally come true of joining the football team, convincing them would take work.

Elena sighed as Chloe continued, "Which is why we need solid proof." The girl snapped her fingers and jumped when the idea popped into her brain, "I bet if I talked to Trevor he would testify against Coach Walt! He already looked guilty. With a little encouragement from me, we'll have everything we need to publish the exposé."

Elena looked at her disapprovingly, "Chloe-"

"No no no," she cut her off, "no arguing. Just trust me, Elena, I know what I'm doing."

"Okay, Chief, okay," Elena raised her arms in defeat and let them back down as Chloe grinned. "Just be careful with Coach Hothead."

"I'll be fine," Chloe assured her before waving, "see you tomorrow."

Elena smiled and nodded, heading to the Kents' house.

* * *

While Clark's bedroom was easily one of the places she felt most safe in, tonight her plagued thoughts made even the comfortable pile of spread-out blankets on the floor impossible to sleep on.

The worry of principal Kwan being in the hospital was getting to her, not able to shake the feeling of the fire's heat around her skin as she remembered the suffocating smoke of the fire. A fire coach Walt started with his mind, no less.

Elena turned so her back laid flat on the blanketed floor and ripped the blanket cover off herself, the fabric rustling loud enough for Clark to shift on his bed above. She froze, but her head reeled restless with her promise to Chloe of not involving the guys on this case.

She knew it was stupid and dangerous to let her friend handle things on her own, but what could she do to stop her? Chloe's reporter DNA made her all the more indomitable when she made up her mind about something.

Not knowing what else to do, Elena stood up and silently walked out of the room.

Sneaking out of their house and into the barn was something she did whenever she couldn't render her mind silent, going over to Jonathan's old punching bag still hung up in the loft and using it. The black bag had probably been more beat up by her in the past four years, ever since Evan's death, than in the whole of Jonathan's youth.

When her body finally tired and she couldn't bear to throw one more punch or kick, she slumped down against the wall and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Finally feeling her eyes droop with drowsiness, she curled up on the cold wood-floor and allowed herself to sleep.

* * *

Thursday night, Chloe called Elena to meet her at the Torch. The blonde sounded dead-set on publishing the article tonight, and she definitely seemed like it when she stepped into the office.

"How did it go with Trevor?" Elena asked from her desk, her computer's word processor opened to the start of the article exposé.

"He was too afraid to say anything." Chloe put down her camera and said, "Either way, we are going to put the article on the front page of tomorrow's Torch."

"Are you sure about this?" Elena asked. It wasn't like printing out an issue on Smallville High's Scarecrow tradition or the bugging weird case of Greg Arkin. This was them essentially incriminating a faculty member on the front page of their school's newspaper. "Maybe we should talk to Clark before making any rash decisions."

"No, there's no time for that." Chloe grabbed her rolling chair and took a seat at Elena's desk. "Look, Elena, the man tried to kill Principal Kwan and endangered your life, too," she pointed out. "People need to know the truth about Coach Walt."

Elena looked at her for a moment before sighing, moving in her chair to let Chloe upload the photos to the computer.

Something Coach Walt obviously didn't want, as the monitor went up in flames before the evidence fully loaded. The fire expanded like wildfire throughout the room, Chloe screaming for help as Elena stood up and grabbed the blanket from the lounging chair before the flames devoured it.

"Chloe, here!" she coughed out, wrapping the both of them with the blanket.

"Oh my god!" Chloe cried as the fire increased around them and Elena hugged her closer.

"It's okay, it's okay," she tried to remain calm although the unbearable heat and intoxicating smoke in the room made her want to scream. Looking at Chloe, she pulled the blanket higher above their heads and instructed, "I need you to run with me on three." Chloe nodded her head, coughing some more, and they started counting, "One… Two… Three!"

The fire burned the blanket as they ran through the flames, quickly shaking the burning fabric off and patting any small flames on their jeans before hurrying to the exit door.

"Son of a bitch!" Elena screamed angrily when her hand made contact with the heated doorknob. She should've known it was scorching hot, but all she thought about was getting them out.

"Oh, no," Chloe breathed out as the fire traveled and blocked their only way out. However, her blue eyes brightened, hopeful, when she saw Clark running to them through the door's small window. "Clark! Clark, help us!"

"Chloe, Elena!" He burst the door opened, the fire immediately subsiding to nothing.

"Clark, oh my god!" The frightened blonde rushed to wrap her arms around him and he pulled her tight to his chest, feeling her sniff out a few tears.

All while Elena met his gaze, chest heaving and heart about to explode from her chest, but otherwise relieved as she ran a hand through her short locks of hair and joked, "What the hell took you so long, Band-Aids?"

* * *

After the fire had burned everything away, the three of them stayed to clean up and tried to salvage at least something.

Putting a small stack of saved newspaper articles on Chloe's desk, Clark looked at the girls amusingly, "The Torch torched. How's that for dramatic irony?"

Elena stopped sweeping and scoffed, though Chloe held a scowl on her face.

"I'm just trying to get you to smile," he shrugged and continued with his work.

"This is more than just arson, Clark," Chloe shook her head and explained. "It's like the fire knew what Elena and I were doing."

Clark looked between them, questioning, "And you believe Coach Walt was somehow controlling it?"

Chloe shot Elena an 'I told you so' look before turning to Clark, "Look at the facts. Principal Kwan launches an investigation into the cheating scandal, Coach Walt tries to fry him, with Elena in his car. Then one of his players comes forward and he threatens them all with pyrotechnic sprinklers. We are about to print that picture and the Torch goes up in flames!"

"What, now you think he's behind the cheating scandal?" Clark shook his head in disbelief and scoffed, "Come on, Chloe."

Elena sighed, a little disappointed with Clark, and rested the broom against one of the office's black walls before walking up to him with her arms crossed over her chest. "Believe us, Clark, it's not that far of a stretch." She finally let him in on their conclusion, "Think about it: Coach Walt, obsessed with winning his 200th game, helps these dumbass players pass the test so he can secure his position in the 'Pantheon of high school sports,' as Chloe calls it."

"Do you have another copy of the picture?" Clark looked down at her, still not convinced, although Elena could tell he was beginning to be.

More frustrated than not, Chloe answered him dryly, "No, it's kind of hard to recover the files."

"You don't have any proof," he shot back, matter-of-factly.

"Trevor Chapell," Elena offered in hopes to appease them.

"What about him?" Clark stopped himself from wiping his dirty hands on his new football shirt, number 32. He wore it for the pep rally earlier, which was kind of underwhelming without anyone except for Pete being there. Not even Lana, now that she quit cheerleading and worked at the Beanery.

"We are sure he's the one who came to Principal Kwan about the cheating."

"And he wants to talk, I know it," Chloe nodded.

"But he's scared of what Coach Walt might do, so we-," Elena glanced at Chloe and sighed as she corrected herself, "I was hoping you could chat him up, being the newest member of the team and all. He might open up to you."

* * *

Since Clark agreed to speak to Trevor, Elena convinced Chloe to put her feelings about football aside and go watch Friday night's game with her.

However, it turned out they weren't the only ones choosing to put aside their differences, as Clark's parents showed up at their son's game as well.

Elena spotted them stepping down to the bleachers, calling them over with a grin, "Mr. and Mrs. Kent, hey, over here!"

"Elena, Chloe!" Martha hugged the girls when they reached them. "Smallville's resident cynic have a change of heart?" she looked at Chloe with surprise as Jonathan shook their hands and they sat next to them.

"Well, Elena talked me into putting my personal politics aside to support my friends," the blonde smiled, playfully nudging the brunette on the arm.

"Yes," Mrs. Kent nodded in understanding, holding her husband's hand, " we're trying the same philosophy."

"Where's Clark?" Jonathan asked, seeking player #32 out on the field.

"I don't know," Chloe shook her head and explained, "I was supposed to meet him before the game, but he didn't show."

"I thought he was with you guys?" Elena furrowed her eyebrows when the Kents shook their heads no, and turned their attention to the field in hopes to spot Clark.

Starting to worry, Jonathan stepped into the sidelines and talked to Pete. Elena followed shortly when he didn't get an answer from the coach either.

Jonathan ran to where she stood by the sidelines and breathed out, "Nobody's seen him."

Elena sucked on her teeth, hands on her hips, before she told him, "Okay, don't ask me why, but I'm sure that the coach is lying."

"What's going on here, Elena?" Jonathan was more than distraught, but although it wasn't technically a question of why, she couldn't give him an answer. "Alright," he sighed, "I'll check the locker room, you check the school."

* * *

Clark turned out to be in the locker room, trapped in the coach's sauna that had been fueled by green meteor rocks.

That explained Coach Walt's ability, Elena thought to herself as she took a seat on the now empty stands.

After having a past crazy couple of days, Elena had actually looked forward to watching Clark's first high school football game. Now, thanks to Coach Walt setting the locker room on fire and burning himself down with it, the game was cancelled.

Instead, she took out her sketchbook from her backpack and began to sketch, needing a different outlet. One that wouldn't leave her knuckles bleeding or her muscles sore this time.

Ignoring the blue and red lights of the police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances around the school building, Elena focused on the stadium's bright lights that shone on the lonely football field. In the next fifteen minutes, she ended up drawing a rough sketch of what the night should've been.

Smallville Crows winning the game with a glorious touchdown, the crowd standing in the bleachers cheering, and the players embracing their cheerleader girlfriends while one celebrated with his girl by the stands.

"Hey," Elena looked up from her sketchbook and saw Clark standing there, "we're getting ready to leave." He pointed down at the drawing with a smile, sitting with her, "What's that?"

"Nothing," she shrugged, but handed it over for him to take a better look, "the happy ending this Friday night deserved, I guess."

"This is very good," Clark said and Elena felt a blush creeping to her cheeks.

"I know," she gave him a smug smile in an effort to hide it.

He chuckled, before noticing the couple standing off-center on the drawing, the football player wearing his shirt number on it: 32. "Who's the girl?"

Aware that he knew who the guy hugging the girl in celebration was, Elena told him with all honesty, "I'm not sure, but it makes sense; after winning his first game, the guy gets the girl."

It was Clark's turn to blush and Elena let out a small laugh as she grabbed the sketchbook and put it inside her backpack, noticing Lana standing on the field and looking at them.

Clark saw her, too, and Elena realized their moment was over. With a small smile, she slung her backpack over one shoulder and said to him before leaving, "You should go get the girl, Clark."

* * *

 **REVIEW RESPONSES**

 ** **LMarie99:**** Aww thank you so much, your reviews have been so inspiring and they never fail to bring a smile to my face! And yeah lol Clark and Elena's romance is going to blossom slowly but surely. Although with the lovely and positive reactions I've been getting, I'll definitely try to fit more Clark/Elena moments. :)

 **scripturient3201:** Thank you so much for the review! I've always been unsure on how to fit in my Ocs in the fics I write, so your kind words truly mean a lot to me lol I'm glad to know all my extra editing and outlining is paying off, hopefully you've enjoyed this chapter as well! :)

 **Guest:** Thank you so much for your review, and giving this story a try! As for your suggestion, I'll be honest and say that I haven't planned this much ahead yet, but while I have a different relationship in mind for Elena and Lex, I can definitely see a thing between Oliver and Elena... So to answer your question, there will be other potential lovers for Elena in the meantime, just haven't decided on who they'll actually be yet ;)

 **Love. Fiction. 2019:** Thank you so much for your review! Hope you liked this chapter as well! :)

 **Adela:** Thank you so much for your review! I am so happy to see that you enjoyed the little Johnathan and Elena moment. I don't know why but writing Johnathan is kind of hard for me so I do wonder if I'm writing him out of character sometimes, but thanks to your feedback I'm so much less worried and more motivated to have them share that kind of father/daughter dynamic I initially planned. :)

 **A/N: As always, for those who read, added this fic to their favorites/alerts, I thank you as well!  
**

 **I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and any constructive criticism you may have. Reviews are always great for a boost of writing motivation and do encourage me to update faster, so don't be afraid to leave even the simplest of words in the review box! :D**

 **Thank you so much for reading, I wish you all lovelies a good day/night!**


	10. Chapter 10

_"X-ray"_  
Part one

* * *

"Did you read the front-page news this morning?" Elena asked Clark.

Her dad had brought it up at breakfast earlier, before he went back to Metropolis again. Normally, Elena wouldn't discuss the town's morning news with Clark on their way to school but today was different.

Apparently, Lex Luthor had committed Smallville's biggest bank robbery in decades.

"I might as well have been reading an article on the Inquisitor," she laughed, shaking her head at the outrageous crime.

"Yeah; I was there when it happened," the boy recalled. "And the person might've looked like Lex- but they weren't Lex."

"What?"

Clark stopped and turned to fully face Elena, having trouble explaining. "I, uh... I-," How did he tell his best friend he'd been able to see the robber's insides like an x-ray, and not make it sound like he was a complete lunatic? "Lex came by the house this morning with a solid alibi. It couldn't have been him," he said, deciding to keep his super-powered vision from her at the moment. Elena had been through a lot of freaky stuff since Homecoming. It was best if he cut her a break from his own freakshow of a life.

"Well, leave it to someone like Lex Luthor to have an evil twin," she joked, continuing down the makeshift dirt path to the bus stop. She got the feeling Clark hid something from her, but whatever it was, she trusted him to tell her eventually. Besides, it wasn't her place to demand truths when she carried her own bag of lies.

Clark chuckled, walking at her side, "He said the same thing."

"Not the first weird thing that's happened in this town, and I'm pretty sure it won't be the last, " she finished before they reached the bus.

* * *

Elena would've gone home to the Kents after school, if it hadn't been from her mother's reminder that she needed to train today.

For their new year's resolution, people made it a goal to train to lose weight- For most people that was the norm, but when your parents were each a fugitive ex-assassin and an ex-mercenary, training to kill had been number one on Elena's list of new year's resolution. Especially when this was the year that would tip the scale and, if Elena went through with her decision to join the League of Assassins, she would make a choice that she could never come back from.

Magdalena had been vague about what choice Elena would have to make on her fifthteenth birthday, though. Whatever it was, she was sure it would end with blood on her hands- A horrid thing for a teenager to be sure of, but this was Elena's truth. Just thinking about it sent chills down her spine.

Punching in the passcode to their basement door, she slowly rolled her head back and around for some relief as she stepped into the training area.

Her mother stood at the back of the training room, a red blindfold covered her eyes as she pointed her bow and arrow at the array of bullseye targets in front of her. "Hey," she turned to her at the door, putting down the bow and arrow and taking off the blindfold, "how was school?"

"Fine," Elena nodded and then began to stretch. "Another accuracy lesson? I thought we were done with those," she raised a questioning eyebrow while Magdalena cleared the targets of her arrows and handed Elena a quiver and bow when she finished warming-up.

"You were hurt," her mom stretched out a hand and helped her off the mat, taking in Elena's scarring arm, reassuring, "but you're doing better now. Come on."

"What's with the blindfold?" Elena took the red cloth she was handed with the weapons, curious.

As they stood in front of the array of bullseyes, Magdalena nodded at her daughter to pay attention. "Well, there's a lot more to archery than just hitting your mark." After positioning her bow and arrow, she took an easy breath before closing her eyes and drawing the bowstring back, shooting at each target while she spoke, "Accuracy is easy when you know where to aim, but what of it when you don't? When it's dark and your eyesight fails to adjust to the absence of light? When your target is hiding still and the silence is so deafening you can't even rely on your hearing?"

Elena ran her fingers down the bowstring of her longbow in awe of her mother as the woman sped through the array of targets, each and every one of her arrows hitting their center despite not seeing.

"And then, there's precision." Magdalena opened her eyes, not sparing her hit targets a glance while she pressed a button on her black watch and walked back to the start. When the six targets on the wall moved and began rotating clockwise, she pulled more arrows from her quiver and started shooting again. "Your first hit can always be luck. Remember, you've accomplished nothing without succeeding at it more than once," she said when her second round of arrows hit all the bullseyes, stacked right on top of her first arrows. Finding her quiver empty, she replaced it with a full one while pressing the button on her watch again for the targets to turn counter-clockwise.

"As the pupil, you are expected to match the master's skills." Elena paid close attention as her mother reached over at her back for two arrows this time, facing the targets with a deep breath. She released the pair of arrows simultaneously, each of them shooting right through the previously shot arrows on all six targets. Elena's eyes widened as the thrill coursed throughout her body just by watching. "As my daughter, you will be superior."

Magdalena put down her bow and turned to Elena, sighing when she saw that look in her daughter's eyes that she knew too well before reminding, "But first, keep your emotions in check, Elena."

"Easier said than done." Elena sighed but nodded, keeping the energy that surged through her at bay with a deep breath in and out. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling- something she could only describe as a fire starting to burn from inside her as her heart raced and blood pumped fast in her veins- but it always got a hold of her whenever she trained.

Her mother explained it as "having a 'warrior's heart'" and even admitted to experiencing the same thing herself. But even though Elena had listened to her mother and practiced control of her emotions, sometimes that energy seemed to be more than just that of a 'true warrior.' At times she felt more like a bloodthirsty animal, especially when the training became too intense and she'd slip.

That hadn't happened since she first agreed to take over Evan's training after his death, but her mother had been right in warning her, "The hardest thing you will do won't be taking down Ra's Al Ghul, Elena. It will be fighting against yourself, to keep control of that power you have inside you."

As if being a teenage girl wasn't enough of a hassle.

* * *

If today's training had taught Elena anything, it was that she was a long way from being the superior daughter.

Walking out of the Beanery, she carefully massaged the pain in her right shoulder as she brought the cup of tea in her hand to her mouth and gave it a sip.

"Oh, man," she grimaced at both the hot drink burning down her throat and sore muscles of her arms.

 _Double the arrows, double the pain,_ she thought with a sigh and made it to her bike before seeing Martha coming out of the antique store.

"Hey, Mrs. Kent," she called after as she walked her way down to her.

"Elena, hi!" Martha turned her head away from the newspaper box and smiled brightly at the girl.

"You heard today's news?" Elena asked when she stopped beside her and eyed the blue newspaper box containing the latest of The Smallville Ledger.

"Yeah," Martha looked down at the newspaper article, shook her head at the printed picture of Lex running away from the bank with a sack of money and a gun in his hand. "You know, they say a picture is worth a thousand words but even this is hard to believe..."

Elena agreed, a sense of deja vu washing over her as the sound of a speeding car made both of them turn to look up at the road.

"Clark!" Martha widened her eyes as their pickup truck drove onto the sidewalk, her son behind the wheel.

"What the hell?" Elena let out, equally horrified watching Clark drive towards them like a madman, before grabbing Martha by the arm and pulling them out of the truck's way.

"Oh my God," Martha hugged Elena closer, calming her racing heart while the truck drove away in a honking fit of rage. "Elena, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"No, no I'm fine," she nodded and helped her up from the edge of the road as she blinked in confusion, "but was that-?"

"Mom!" Clark ran towards them and, like he hadn't just been trying to run over them seconds earlier, asked them worriedly, "Elena! Are you guys alright?"

While Martha made sure this Clark was her son and established that no one had been hurt, Elena didn't know what to think. Either she was going crazy, or Lex wasn't the only one with an evil twin running loose in Smallville.

"What is going on?" She finally asked.

* * *

Elena was right in thinking Clark had been hiding something from her. After Mrs. Kent and her were almost run over at the town square, Clark had to tell her the truth and explained to her how he could see through things now.

At first, it didn't make any sense and she didn't see how his new super-vision tied in with Smallville's Cloning issue, until she sat at the Kent's dinner table with them.

"Did anybody else see the driver?" Clark asked when his dad gave the news about their truck being found by the police, abandoned out by the Stewarts' farm.

"No," Johnathan was relieved to say.

"I could have sworn it was you, Clark," Martha sighed and Elena nodded in agreement.

Clark looked between them and sighed, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips, "I guess I'm not the only one with a vision problem."

"Look, I don't understand. Whoever it was, how did they get your keys?"

"I have no idea," Martha shook her head, answering her husband, and tried to remember once more, "I only went into the antique…"

"What is it, Mom?"

"Nothing." After a troubled sigh escaped her lips, Martha finally admitted her thoughts to them, "It's just that Rose Grier was acting very strange. I found 5,000 dollars in cash under a dresser. It had a Smallville Savings and Loan band on it. She said a customer paid her, but-"

"You think it's from the bank robbery?"

She looked at Clark and nodded, "It crossed my mind."

"So wait a minute." held up a hand, pausing for a beat before tying the events together, "Rose took your keys, turned into Clark, and then tried to run you down?"

At his rundown, the woman chuckled in realization, "You're right. It's crazy."

"I don't think so." All eyes turned to Clark as he shook his head and explained. "I saw a flash of Tina Grier's skeleton. It was weird and green. It didn't look human. You know, like the ones you see in anatomy books? It looked a lot like the weird skeleton flash from Lex just after the robbery."

The more she heard about it, the more it sounded like another Weird Case to Elena. "That can mean she's infected," she finally spoke, already thinking on a plan that would hopefully solve this.

"Infected how?" Mr. Kent asked her as she stood from the table and grabbed her jacket draped over the chair.

"I'll have to look into it, start with where she was when the Meteor Shower hit. And if Tina is connected to all this we can find out why she's doing this and hopefully stop her."

She smiled and said goodbye before she left to start investigating.

* * *

Good news: Tina was infected. Being born with a soft bone disease, she'd been on all kinds of medications from doctors.

Elena had to go through databases of public school records, newspaper articles, and even committed a crime or two by pulling sealed patient files from Smallville Hospital, to confirm that Rose's daughter had miraculously recovered from the disease around her third birthday. Right after the meteor shower hit.

Bad news: There was nothing on how the effects of the green-meteor rock on Tina could be stopped, much less reversed.

Elena relayed everything she had learned to Clark, after she found him in the empty school hallway during last period.

"Hey, Earth to Clark." She finally waved her hand in front of his face to interrupt his intense staring at one of the school lockers throughout her entire conversation. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry," he blinked but didn't take his eyes away from the blue locker in front of him. If anything, he narrowed his eyes in further concentration as he told her, "I heard you, and I think you're right, Elena… Tina's the one who robbed the bank. She's got the money stashed in her backpack."

"What? How do you-?" She stopped asking questions when she suddenly realized it was Tina's locker he was so focused on. "Wait," Elena looked between the locker and a smiling Clark, "are you actually seeing through it right now?"

"Yeah," Clark nodded eagerly and looked away, his vision returning to normal. "I can control it!" His smile grew wider when she smiled back with bright eyes, amazed by his new ability and not at all scared away by it like he had stupidly worried.

"Clark!" They both turned and saw Tina standing a couple feet behind them. Her eyes bore angrily into his as she snapped, "What's your glitch, huh?! Why do keep staring at me?"

"Uh… I don't know. Sorry." His eyes widened and quickly glanced down at Elena, who stood by his side as she glared back at Tina with the same viciousness. Knowing how Elena would react to the other girl's aggression, he placed his hand on her shoulder and gently turned her around with him, leaving Tina behind.

"We need to turn her in to the police," Elena said once Tina was out of earshot. "And is it just me, or was she dressed up as Lana?"

"Yeah, she had the same pink sweater and everything," Clark admitted without thinking as they turned the hallway's corner. Elena couldn't help the amused scoff that escaped her smirking lips, because of course Clark Kent would remember everything concerning Lana Lang.

"Come on, you big dork," with a roll of her eyes, she smiled up at his blushing face and grabbed his hand, hurrying, "Mrs. Smith is gonna have our heads for being late."

* * *

Elena stood from the sofa and walked over to the bookcase, standing on the tip of her toes to reach over and grab the piggy bank from the top shelf. Now that they had talked to Clark's parents about the money in Tina's locker and they had decided on anonymously alerting the police, they were hanging out in the Barn's loft. While they waited for news, Clark wanted to practice his newfound ability and Elena was more than happy to help.

With a smile, she turned back and took a seat next to him, "Here, try to see how much there's inside." She put the object on the coffee table in front of them. Clark leaned forward and reached for it but she swatted his hands away, "Hey, no- What are you doing? No cheating!"

"Okay, okay," he raised his hands up in surrender almost immediately. A laugh escaped his chest as he leaned back and looked at her stern face, "You're worse than Dad, you know."

"Huh?" Elena met his gaze, tilting her head slightly to one side in confusion before she understood his words. "Oh, sorry," she chuckled softly. "You can pick it up, if it helps." Elena nodded, telling herself that this wasn't like the training with her mother. There was nothing to be so tense about.

Clark looked away from her as she rolled off the pressure on her shoulders, and turned to the piggy bank. He tried concentrating on it but his mind wandered elsewhere.

He couldn't help but think about what he saw yesterday morning in P.E.

There were a lot of things Clark didn't know about Elena, and he had always been okay with not knowing. Because the things he did know, the things she was willing to share with him, were more than enough to understand that not even she knew the full extent of her family's secrets.

He knew about her brother, how Evan was only her half-sibling. How there were differences between her parents. How she was more fond of her father than her mother, and how they both worked complicated jobs that kept them apart from each other.

Clark and his family knew that Elena's life wasn't easy, and this wasn't the first time he felt her so burdened. But he'd be lying if he didn't wonder what possibly made her this stressed every time she tried to hide that look in her eyes.

Especially after his ability to see through things accidentally uncovered the several scars and bruises that hid under her clothes. She never mentioned those.

He didn't want to stick his nose where it didn't belong but this wasn't just something he could brush off either. For whatever reason, in whatever way, Elena was getting hurt and she kept it from him. Sure, they were best friends but Clark always felt like they were closer than that. Elena was the only person outside of his family that knew his secret, so wasn't it only fair that she could share hers with him too?

His eyes found hers again, wondering if she just didn't trust him as much as he thought. Or maybe she was too scared? If that was the case, he needed to let her know it was okay, there was nothing she should be afraid of.

"Elena," his voice was low, not sure how to go about it as he shifted in his spot and turned his full attention on her, "can I ask you something?" He just wanted her to trust in him, too.

Elena blinked, taking in the serious tone of Clark's voice, confused with the hesitant look in his eyes. "Yeah, shoot," she straightened a bit and waited for his question.

"Is… is there something happening at home with your parents?" He breathed the words right out, so it took her a moment before she caught on to his worries.

She thought it a little strange, that he was the one prying out of concern. She was used to questions from people like Chloe and Pete, even Lana, but never in the 12 years that she had known Clark, did he or his parents ever asked aloud the many things she was sure they wondered about her family.

"No, nothing's wrong." She shook her head, remaining calm. "Why are you asking?" Inside, she racked her brain for something that could've slipped and alarmed Clark in such way.

"I.. I just-" he reached a hand back to scratch his neck and sighed. "You know I can't control this new ability yet," Elena nodded and remained silent, though she didn't miss how his eyes dropped to glance down at her body and blinked back up to her face in a second. A light blush began to creep on his cheeks as he brought his hand down on his lap and confessed, "Well, yesterday during PE, my eyes started hurting and I tried to stop it from happening but the next thing I know, I…"

"You what, Clark?"

He avoided her gaze, focusing on the piggy bank on the coffee table instead ,"I could see into the girl's locker room and I saw you- I saw the bruises and scars on your body, Elena."

"What?! You saw me in the locker room?!" Her eyes widened like saucers, taken aback. Although, she didn't know if it was because she would never in a million years take him for a Peeping Tom or because he had finally seen the marks she tried so hard to hide.

"No, I swear it wasn't like that! I didn't know what was happening, I couldn't just turn it off."

"Then you should have looked away!"

"I was going to but-"

"But what?" She tried to stay angry, she really did, but she knew Clark and he was telling the truth when he said the whole thing had been an accident. Even if she didn't, the scared puppy-dog look on his face was too adorable for her to stay mad at, as she smirked instead, "The view was too good?"

Clark gasped, his cheeks turned a deeper shade of red, and she fought back a laugh as he stammered, "N-no! No, it wasn't!" He looked at her sudden hurt expression and gulped, "I mean, ye-" Elena snorted and he huffed in frustration when he finally realized she was messing with him, though he preferred that to her being angry with him. "What? No! Stop trying to switch the subject, Elena. Please, I know what I saw and I'm worried. What's going on?" Elena stayed quiet, smile fading away when his tone turned serious, and he reached to hold her hand, "Elena, you can trust me."

"I know," she gave his hand a small squeeze before letting go. "And I'm okay, really. Nothing's happening at home, I promise. It's just.." she closed her eyes and breathed in, her hands running through her hair as she opened them again and let out, "it's complicated."

"More complicated than being from another planet?"

"Not quite…" She sighed, not wanting to explain the whole truth to him. He wouldn't understand it, at least not yet, but she didn't want him to worry either. The scars and bruises were not that bad, the biggest one was a scar on her side from her early training days. And even that one had almost faded away. His new ability must have only magnified them and she couldn't think of another way to make him see the reality, other than showing him. "Okay, you know I've always been a bit hot-tempered," she started, standing up from the sofa, "and after Evan died I got a hundred times worse. His death left me with a lot of anger and it was really hard to try and keep it all in all the time."

"Yeah I remember your dad took you to Metropolis that summer, to get you help."

"I saw doctors and psychiatrists and therapists and everything, but none of that worked, Clark." She pulled off her t-shirt to reveal the small bruises and scars on her torso.

Clark gasped again, eyes darting away from her shirtless figure, "Elena!"

"Oh no, you don't get to act shy now!" She smacked the top of his head with the black t-shirt in her hand, his flustered blushing making the situation more awkward than it needed to be. "Come on, Band Aids, look. It's nothing you haven't seen before," she tried to be reassuring, though her heart started to beat faster at the realization that she had taken off her shirt for her best friend.

He shook his head and finally met her eyes, sincere, "I told you I didn't mean to do that, Elena."

"I believe you, Clark, but now I need to make sure you understand." She let out a breath and tried to be as honest as she could. "The only thing that got me through Evan's death was my mother's training. These are not from self-harm or abuse or anything else that you should worry about. They're from fighting. You know, martial arts, hand-to-hand combat, archery, sword-fighting, stuff like that..." Clark's eyes widened further and she laughed nervously, putting her shirt back on, "Uh, it sounds a lot more intense than it actually is. My mom's big on safety, really, I just don't know when to stop sometimes. Which is why I agreed to do all this in the first place. I-It sounds crazy but the cuts, the bruises, the sore muscles," she chuckled a little, voice getting tight all of a sudden as she looked at him and the fear of his judgement struck her chest. "The blood, sweat, and tears, it makes me feel better," she lowered her head, shame weighing down her shoulders at the fact that she couldn't help but feel a certain kind of joy embedded deep in her heart, knowing that one day the blood of the man who took her brother's life would drip from her own hands. "it makes me feel like I haven't completely lost him and- god," she sniffled back the tears forming in her eyes and forced herself to keep it together, locking away the dark thoughts in her head before she met Clark's eyes again. "Sorry. I'm sorry for worrying you and keeping things from you, Clark. You have always been so honest with me and I don't deserve it."

"What are you talking about, Elena?" He stood up and closed the space between them, towering over her as he gently held onto the side of her arms, "I've known you since the day of the meteor shower, practically my whole life. You're my best friend and if I worry it's because I care about you. Look, I don't know what it feels like to lose a brother, much less in the way you did, but I'm here for you. Mom and Dad, too. Whatever it is, you can talk to us. Okay?"

"Clark…," she was tempted to tell him the whole truth. God, she wanted to tell him everything. Finally explain to him that her brother had been murdered in cold blood by the people that had been after her mother and tormented her family for years. How she was the only one that could put and end to all of it but didn't know if the price she'd have to pay was worth it.

Keeping this horrible truth was eating her up, but when she tried to push the words out with her tongue, an invisible chain wrapped itself around her throat and she couldn't do anything but force a smile. Pretend his words brought a better comfort as she nodded and pulled him into a hug, "thank you."

 _You can't,_ the devil on her shoulder tightened the chain as Clark returned her embrace, tantalizing into her ear, _you'll lose him if you do._

And Elena couldn't lose Clark, too.

* * *

 **A/N:** **Before I go ahead and do the review responses, I have some important announcements. I'll start off with the big one, which is that with college and work now added to the big and ever-growing pile of responsibilities that make up my life, unfortunately I won't be able to work on my writing as much as I'd want to anymore. :''( So please forgive me if it chapter updates aren't as fast as I originally planned! With this said, however, I will try my hardest to get the next chapter up since it's just the rest of this episode and I'm thinking it shouldn't be as long now that the big scene with Clark and Elena already happened at the end of this chapter. But please don't let these news discourage you from reviewing, if anything you're enthusiasm for this story will only motivate me to write more! :) Anyways, that's all folks! Hopefully I will have enough time on my schedule to at least do one chapter a month, that's what I'm aiming for at the moment so wish me luck lol!**

 **REVIEW RESPONSES:**

 ** ** **scripturient3201:****** Thank you for your review! And for noticing Elena's artsy bone lol I'm planning for it come into play at the end of season 3 where *spoiler alert* she'll have the same chance to leave Smallville with Lana to that school of arts in Paris. But apart from that, I'm certain there will be more ways to show that while being a smart character, she's more artistic than intellectual. :)

 ** **LMarie99:**** Thank you for your review! Rest assured, I will try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible! :)

 **Love. Fiction. 2019:** Thank you for your review! I hope you liked this chapter as well! :)

 **Adela:** Thank you for your review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, too! :)

 **Djone246:** Thank you for reading and reviewing! To answer your question first, Elena's ability to become a better fighter will definitely grow as her story continues and I think it's safe to say that eventually she will be better than Lois and Black Canary, but that will take time. For sure though, the three of them will make a badass team lol I can't wait for Lois to show up, Elena and her are going to kick so much ass together!  
In regards to Oliver and season 6 though, it's a long way till we get there but I already have some things planned out and all I can say is that things are going to be rough for us Clark/Elena shippers indeed, but despite Oliver being added to the mix it won't be as big of a love triangle, in part for the reasons you've mentioned which are true, and also because *hint hint* Elena kind of "knows" she's meant to be with Clark so yeah, she'll have her fun with Oliver but the real drama won't be planned until season 8... dun dun dun... But omg I did see what you did there and thank you so much, it brought a big smile to my face! :)

 **And as always, for those who read, added this fic to their favorites/alerts, I thank you as well!  
**

 **I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and any constructive criticism you may have. Reviews are always great for a boost of writing motivation and do encourage me to update faster, so don't be afraid to leave even the simplest of words in the review box! :D**

 **Thank you so much for reading, I wish you all lovelies a good day/night!**


	11. Chapter 11

_"X-ray"_  
Part Two

* * *

Even though Tina was still out there Elena had put that Weird Case on the back burner. Instead, she concentrated on getting ahead on schoolwork and even offered to take over Stacy's column and write the cheer-leading squad story herself when the girl unsurprisingly called in sick.

All day, she tried to distract herself with things that didn't involve Clark which was harder than she expected. Especially since she didn't want him to figure out she was avoiding him. It wasn't like she was angry at him for using his ability on her, not when he had no power over it, but she wasn't all right with what happened either.

Ever since she woke up this morning and the realization that Clark was a step closer to knowing the truth really set in, contradicting thoughts had been running around in her head.

She couldn't understand how last night she was on the verge of spilling out everything but then, once she saw Clark at the bus stop to go to school, she felt the instant regret of having told him the tiniest bit of truth last night. Then again during lunch, when Chloe and Pete had gone to work on their group project in the library and it was just the two of them. Clark began with telling her how Tina had pretended to be Lana and then attacked him, throwing him out of the barn's loft shortly after she left, and their conversation eventually ended with him asking about her training. She had easily answered him, delighted to finally be able to talk to someone, but as she found herself sharing more and more, there were things she couldn't tell him and had to lie about. Elena didn't like it and she couldn't help her frustration show. Thankfully, lunch ended as the bell for the next class rung and Clark didn't have time to press the issue.

Last night she hadn't blamed Clark but today, with the way she was feeling, she almost wanted to and that's why she needed to take some time off. Because Clark finding out about her scars and bruises wasn't his fault, just happenstance. He didn't doubt her and she knew he had no ulterior motive when he tried to find out more about her. So she stayed after school and worked on the Torch's next issue instead of helping put a stop to Tina, trying to make sense of her thoughts and steer clear of any misplaced anger.

"If only I could be someone else..." she muttered to herself before her musings were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Elena blinked away from her computer screen, the word processor blank except for the titled words 'Peppy Title for Lame Pom-pom Story Here' written by 'Not Stacy,' as she glanced towards the door and saw Lana stepping inside the office.

"Mind if I come in?" The raven-head girl smiled.

"Sure," Elena shrugged, "but Clark's not here. He's out working on a story with Chloe and Pete."

"No, it's okay," Lana shook her head, not looking for Clark like Elena thought. "I actually came here to ask you something."

"Oh," the brunette perked her head up behind the computer monitor and cleared her throat, "well, how can I help?"

"The Torch prints out the graduation speech every year, right?"

"Yeah, Chloe's usually the who transcribes them," Elena nodded at her, standing up from her desk and making Lana follow her to Chloe's computer, "What year are you looking for?"

"1977," Lana answered with a hopeful smile.

Elena searched through the files but couldn't find anything before the 80s. She closed away the opened windows on the computer and sighed, "No luck, seventy-seven is about three years too old for PC."

Lana looked at her, confused, as her smile fell and she tried to understand, "PC...?"

"Personal Computer. Before Mac and Windows and Dial-up Internet, archives were stored as HC."

"Hard-copy," Lana smiled after she caught on.

"Now you're getting it," Elena shared her smile before they walked over to the black file cabinet.

Opening the second drawer, she rummaged through each folder until her eyes settled on the Year '77 and pulled out the Torch issue with the graduation speech, "Here it is." Lana stood close behind her left shoulder while she skimmed through the newspaper, muttering, "Uh, let's see...Prom theme, prom night, prom queen, prom king... Class graduates, honors graduates... And bingo, graduation speech!"

Elena frowned at the lack of speech once she found it, while Lana read over the words with the same disappointed expression, "Due to the controversial nature of this year's graduation address, the editors have elected not to run the text in this issue of the Torch."

"Bummer," Elena sighed and put the newspaper back in the file cabinet, "it's probably the only one worth reading. But maybe I can still track something down for you if you're really interested." She turned to Lana and asked, "Do you know who gave the speech?"

"Yeah," she smiled but her eyes couldn't quite mask the sadness in them, and Elena finally understood why when she said, "my mother."

First she'd quit cheerleading and now she was asking for her help in trying to find her dead mother's graduation speech? If Elena didn't know any better, she'd say Lana was going through some kind of life crisis. And that certainly couldn't be it, because as far as Elena was concerned, Lana's life was like a fairy-tale. Even with dead parents, her life was perfect. _She_ was perfect. But then again, if her past friendship with Lana had shown her anything, it was that the girl never believed she was and instead spent her years trying to be what others expected of her.

Lana Lang, the girl who was actually perfect and she was the only one who couldn't see it, as opposed to her, Elena Castro, the girl who was an actual wreck but had to pretend so nobody else could realize it.

A true juxtaposition, with the only link being the loss of a loved one, which is why Elena's voice softened as she found herself wondering, "Are you okay, Lana?"

Lana wasn't surprised by the question, seeming rather glad for Elena to have asked as she said, "Nell lied to me about my mother. I found her diary and discovered she wasn't at all like Nell told me she was. Her words, her thoughts, fears and desires, it was if I was the one who wrote them myself, Elena. I grew up with an image of her that was perfect and so I tried measuring up to a Laura Lang that didn't exist." She took in a breath and pulled back the forming tears in her eyes, nodding with a soft smile, "But now that I figured out things like how she hated cheer-leading and how much she wanted to leave Smallville and travel the world, I want to know more about her."

"What she was really like," Elena looked at her with understanding before she promised to find that graduation speech.

* * *

"I never made a difference here, but maybe my children can." Laura Lang's voice stopped playing as Elena pulled the cassette tape from the small boombox in Principal Kwan's office.

It was after school hours and even if she did pick the lock to his office, she planned to return the tape before anyone noticed it was gone so it wasn't like she was stealing. Breaking and entering? Maybe. But as long as she didn't get caught, there was no crime. Elena was sure to leave everything as she found it, putting back the boombox in the storage bin under the writing desk, and organized the cabinets she had gone through in search of the graduation speech.

It took all of twenty minutes to complete her little mission, tugging on the hood of her black jacket to secure her face from any of the school's camera as she swiftly jumped the campus gates and got on her bike.

She rode the way to Lana's house with the setting sun, the evening light almost completely gone by the time she knocked on the front door.

"Good evening, Ms. Potter," she smiled when Lana's aunt answered the door.

"Elena!" The woman blinked at the girl, a confused smile on her lips wondering what had made her stop by after all this time. "It's nice to see you here. Are you looking for Lana?"

Elena nodded. "Is she around? We've been working on a school project and I want to go over some things before turning it in tomorrow."

"Oh, sure dear, but she went out on her horse about an hour ago." Nell opened the door further so Elena could step inside, "Come in. She shouldn't take long, you can wait if you want."

"No, I think I know where she is. I'll just go find her, but thanks Ms. Potter. It was nice seeing you too."

Elena stepped off the porch and headed towards the cemetery.

The moon shone well above in the sky, its light the only thing illuminating her path through the trees and gravestones. Lana's parents weren't far away from her brother so she made her way with no trouble, knotting her eyebrows in confusion only when she saw Whitney standing in front of their graves and not Lana.

"Hey, Fordman!" She called out, a cold shiver running down her spine as the wind picked up. "Where's Lana?" Wrapping the jacket tighter around her, she crossed her arms and walked over to him. It wasn't until he turned around to face her that she was close enough to see the dirt on his face. She suspiciously eyed the shovel he carried in one hand.

"She's dead." He smirked before his bones cracked and shifted under his skin, Elena staring wide-eyed as Tina revealed her true face. "And so are you!" The girl's angry growl shook Elena from where she stood frozen and she stopped the shovel's blade from smacking the side of her head.

"What did you do to her?" Elena tried taking the shovel from her but Tina was stronger and pinned her down to the ground instead.

"Nothing she didn't deserve," she said through gritted teeth while Elena struggled to keep the shovel's handle from crushing her throat. Straddling Elena, Tina put all her weight on the shovel and pushed against the brunette's hold. "Lana and I were best friends, we could've been sisters! But she turned her back on me, all because I'm different!"

Sweat trickled down Elena's forehead, her arms starting to give in, but Tina was too strong and she didn't have a way to escape. "Lana didn't stop talking to you because you were different. She did it because you are crazy. You scared her away with your weird obsession with her, Tina. You're the one who ruined your friendship, not her-"

"No! Shut up!" Tina yelled, her eyes aflame with rage as she tore the shovel away from Elena's throat and went to strangle her with her own hands. "I'm not crazy!"

Elena didn't have time to breathe. Her words had caused Tina to let her guard down but only for a moment and she needed to act fast. In the short second that Tina used to throw the shovel away and move her hands up to Elena's neck, Elena raised her right fist and delivered a punch to her chin.

The angle at which she threw the punch alone should've knocked the girl out, but thanks to the green-meteor rock in Tina's body she only fell back in a daze.

"Oh, no you're not," Tina snarled once she recovered and grabbed Elena's ankle, tying her back on the ground before she could get away. "You want to know crazy? I'll show you crazy!" Tina laughed maniacally, watching Elena dig her fingers into the soil only to tear off bundles of grass as she dragged her down to where she could return the favor.

Although Tina's punch packed force, she didn't know how to properly throw one in order to cause serious damage. Elena couldn't help the smirk on her lips, red with her blood but otherwise intact.

"That's all you got?" She taunted and Tina leaned in, ready to strangle her to death.

Elena studied Tina while her hands tightened around her neck and constricted her throat. She looked into the girl's dark eyes and waited for the rage to completely consume her. Waited until Tina became blind to everything but her emotions, allowing her to finally strike with the throwing knife hidden in her hand. It was the only way she could get out of this alive, she determined, but Tina was suddenly yanked off her before she could raise her weapon.

Taking in deep breaths, Elena watched as Tina was flung in the air across the cemetery until her body hit a tree's trunk, nearly splitting it in two with a power that knocked her unconscious.

"Elena, are you okay?" She blinked and finally saw Clark standing in front of her. His eyes darted to the blood on her mouth and she was rather thankful he was too busy worrying to notice her knife.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she nodded and wiped the blood from her chin, sliding the knife inside the sleeve of her jacket as Clark helped her to her feet. "But you need to find Lana, Tina did something to her- I think she buried her alive," she remembered the dirt on Tina's face and the shovel and told him.

"What? Are you sure?" Clark's voice panicked.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Elena gulped, her throat sore from being strangled. The amount of danger that Lana was in struck her as she tried not to imagine her already dead in a grave. Instead, she urged Clark, "Can you do your x-ray vision thing? She's gotta be here somewhere."

Clark didn't hesitate and scanned over the entire area until he saw Lana's skeleton trapped inside a tomb, her heart barely beating.

* * *

After the police had finished talking to Lana outside of her house, she walked over to Elena.

"Are you gonna be okay?" She asked as the paramedics cleared Elena and the girl stepped away from the back of their truck.

"Yeah, I'll be okay," Elena sighed. Even with a busted lip she managed to smile, nodding when Lana's eyes fell to the hand marks around her throat. "It hurts a little, but it'll heal don't worry."

Lana's face relaxed, her growing smile faltering a bit as Elena took a cassette tape from her jacket. She tilted her head in confusion and tried reading the white label before Elena dusted off the few specks of dirt on it and handed it out to her.

"Your mother's graduation speech."

"What? Elena, how did you-," Lana stopped herself from giving Elena a tight hug but her eyes lit up as she grinned and took the tape, "Thank you! This means a lot to me."

"Don't mention it," Elena shook her head and added, "just don't take too long with it. I have to put it back before someone sees it's missing."

"Actually," Lana stopped Elena from walking back to the Kents, a little hesitant to say, "I'd really like if I had someone to hear it with me?"

It took Elena a moment to realize what she was asking of her, and she couldn't help but glance at Whitney a few feet away from them, asking instead, "What about your boyfriend?"

Lana looked at him as she shrugged, returning her gaze to Elena with a sigh, "As much as I love Whitney, I don't think he'll understand."

Elena snorted in agreement, "Point taken." She nodded, stuffing her hands inside her jacket pockets as thunder roared with the warning of a storm. "We'll make it a girl's night."

"Like old times." Lana's smile warmed Elena's heart, and she'd admit she missed that feeling terribly. She missed her friendship with Lana.

* * *

 **REVIEW RESPONSES:**

 **Adela:** Thank you for your review! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! :)

 **Djone246:** It's no problem dear! I love replying to reviews, so thank _you_ for leaving them! And yes, I totally get what your saying; Clark and Elena do make a great team. I'm so happy you think that! And to give a little something extra, I will say that I do plan on Elena and Clark working together at the Daily Planet, but not as the partners one might expect ;)

 **LMarie99:** Haha you don't know how honored I am to be worthy of an all caps review like yours! Thank you for your excitement, it certainly helped me keep me motivated to come out with this chapter as soon as possible. Hope you enjoyed it! :)

 **Love. Fiction. 2019.:** Thank you for your review! I hope you like this chapter too! :)

 **scripturient3201:** Thank you for your review and for being understanding and patient with me! That Elena/Clark moment at the end was a little unexpected in the way that I knew I wanted him to find out that there was something going on with her, but I didn't know what she was going to tell him if anything at all until I wrote it. So with the scene being so last minute, I was a little afraid of it not being good enough lol but I'm so happy to have gotten the right reaction from you and others! Your words are truly encouraging, so thank you! :)

 **Guest:** Thank you for your review! I really appreciate you giving this story a chance and thinking that it's one of the best ones! That means a lot to me, so I thought a lot of about your feedback, which I find to be totally valid. And to be completely honest with you, it is going to take a long time for Clark and my OC to get together in this fic, or at least in the way that it's meant for them. The reason this being is not because I want Elena to feel like the second choice or add unnecessary drama just for the sake of throwing it in there. I completely agree with your concerns that this may happen, as it is most often that slowburn stories turn this way. And I wish I could have Clark and Elena be together sooner, I really do, but since Smallville is kind of a big series (and Elena's story starts from the first episode lol) there's a lot of things that happen and for Elena's story to make sense, I can't sacrifice her character arc for the sake of romance... I really hope my rambling makes sense lol I hope you continue to read but if not, thanks for giving Elena's story a chance! :) **  
**

 **XenoLucifer:** Hello! I replied to your review on chapter 2 via PM, but I'm happy to see you came back! Right now, both Clark and Elena's romantic relationship is pretty much nonexistent, at least to them. Since we as readers know that they'll eventually get together, we can and will see the love they share for each other, but to them they're just best friends and still have yet to realize how much they really mean to each other. You say that things seem a little one sided, yet I would argue that things are actually none-sided lol Yeah, Elena admits to finding Clark handsome and charming but so does almost everyone else that knows him and while she's expressed how much she cares about him, she has yet to reach the realization that she's in love.  
On Clark's side, we also know that he cares about Elena and it would've been possible for him to develop romantic feelings, in a similar way that he fell for Lana since he was little, if it wasn't for Elena's secret. If Elena's brother hadn't died and she'd stopped keeping everyone, including Clark, at a safe distance from knowing all of who she is, if she had just told Clark her secret sooner, I think he would've developed feelings for her instead of Lana. But since she didn't, that chance was lost and there was nothing to stop Clark from having feelings for Lana. Now when Elena is finally ready to tell him everything, he would finally begin to realize his true feelings for her but unfortunately he has also fallen in love with Lana by that point, and this will be one of the main complications of Season 2.  
But yeah, I hope my explanation makes sense lol I will try to fit more of Clark's thoughts and even hope to write some scenes with his POV later on. There's one moment in particular in season one where I plan to do this, so I hope I'm able to do his character justice. Anyway, yes I've heard of Gotham and been wanting to watch it for years now! I've watched a few episodes of season one but that was a long time ago and can't remember much of what the show was about but I remember liking it. Now that you've mentioned it, I want to pick it up again, maybe this Winter break when I'm done with my semester! :)

 **erica. phoenix16:** Thank you for reviewing and liking my story! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well even though it was a little short :)

 **As always, I would love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and any constructive criticism you may have. Reviews are always great for a boost of writing motivation and do encourage me to update faster, so don't be afraid to leave even the simplest of words in the review box! :D**

 **Thank you so much for reading, I wish you all lovelies a good day/night!**


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